Finland, Russia, Russia and Switzerland… "96
tea bags and 2 pedal bins"!
Day 1
I hate pedal
bins! They never work properly and the lids always close just as you are about
to throw something wet and sticky in there! My room in Helsinki has two of
them and I believe they were put there by someone who doesn’t like me very much!
Wednesday was
a bear of a day. I set the alarm on my mobile phone for 5:00am but had forgotten
to re-set it when the clocks went back in Spain last weekend. So it obediently
went off at 4:00am and got this day off to a bad start.
But I joyfully
arrived at Alicante airport at 7:00am to check in for the first of the day´s
three flights, eventually arriving in Helsinki via Barcelona and Copenhagen.
It was all pretty undramatic although I did leave a jacket (empty) on the plane
in Copenhagen and my preferred seat to Helsinki, 11F, randomly became 29D but
this was a short flight and I didn´t have the energy to argue with the monster
at the check-in desk anyway.
Heikki and
Martti were there to meet me and we went straight to the rental company so I
could choose a piano for the show. Then we went to a Russian restaurant
for dinner where I met the people who were organising the webcast of the fan
meeting.
The food was
good, the wine was better and the conversation better still but I was tired and
I needed to get to my room and my bed!
My tiny room
became a lot tinier when I filled it with my luggage for this long trip along
with two guitars and the rented piano which I would need to spend time with the
next day but I left enough space so I could crawl into bed and sleep!
I will be
gone for 24 days which is 96 tea bags at the average rate of 4 per day and I
always bring my own because I can never find good tea on the road.
