| The Year 2000 |
| The Year 2000 The first year with a "2" on the front was a busy one for all and sundry with lots of exciting events of which to tell. December 31. New Year's Eve. December 25. The traditional English Christmas at David's place, and then a Canadian Christmas at Svend's place. December 24. The traditional Finnish Christmas at Eija's place. December 16. Brett and Debs get married. December 13. NRC Christmas party and a second gig for the Bomb Shelter Boys & the Wireless Angels. October 28. Cindy's annual Halloween party October 7-8. Spiritual and psychic trade fair in Helsinki. October 3. My friend Ulla launched her new astrology book. September 30. Eve had her 30th birthday party and proved that there's no reason to panic about getting older. We all dressed in 80s gear and played tacky 80s music all night. September 8. I used my Buzz ticket (see March 29) to visit friends in England, including Mick. August 18. Fireworks competition in Helsinki harbour. July 29. Jonna had her annual birthday party in Tampere. June 27-July 4. Trip to Hungary. June 23-25. Midsummer weekend. June 16. Geraldine had her farewell party in Pikku Parlamentti. June 15. The NRC Summer Party featured the debut of the band The Bomb Shelter Boys and their permanent special guests, The Wireless Angels. June 10. Trip to Turku for the Down By the Laituri music festival. "Laituri" is Finnish for "jetty". May 20. Stuart moved house. May 19. The Varpajaiset, or "Toe-counting Party" for Svend's new daughter, Maria. May 6. Brett got engaged to Debs, with a wedding planned for December, so he had a party to celebrate. May 1. More Finnish tradition with the annual Vappu lunch in Kaivopuisto park in downtown Helsinki. April 30. Vappu began in the traditional way on Esplanadi, in front of the Havis Amanda statue. March 29. A promotional party for the new discount airline, Buzz, which offers super-cheap fares to London from Helsinki. I was lucky enough to win a free ticket! March 24. Anna, the Finnish women's magazine, prints an article including me as a "foreigner working in Finland." If you have access to old editions of Anna, it was Week 13. March 7. David held his infamous annual pancake party. February 5. Mia and Jamie finally had their housewarming in the outer-Helsinki suburb of Malminkartano. January 25. The Varpajaiset, or "Toe-counting Party" for Jon's new son, Oskar. January 20. My birthday was spent in the company of friends at the local pub Punavuoren Ahven. January 1. For New Year we had dinner at David's place, then watched the fireworks on the harbour. |