helsinki 30 june-1 july

It is Wednesday 1 July and I am in Tintin the Cafe aka Tintin the Bakery with no Tintin memorabilia or merch anywhere around, that's nice. I'm getting sugary shizzle on my keyboard because I am eating a cinnamon bun - like, with my fingers, and then typing.

A lot of dogs are going past - true.

Last time I gave a conference paper in Finland I was met with bafflement, but yesterday I feel it went really well. The other papers were, you know, fascinating but of course became a mish-mash after a time, to the extent that ultimately I was left making the classic response 'those are all words'. Subsequently by the end of the day I was fucked up with no blood sugar and I was pleased to see that close to our digs in Jätkäsaari there is a vietnamese vegan restaurant. Initially I'm pretty sure google map directed me to a big hole in the ground but then I found it, and it was grouse. I mean the plate of food I had would have satisfied five people, I exaggerate, but satisfied two and maybe three. But it was excellent. I will go back. 

(That stain on the ground was there when I got there btw).

Earlier in the day yesterday I paid a quick trip to Tapiola to find rather disappointingly/worryingly that the old shopping centre, which I always enjoyed, is now boarded up and not looking at all happy. I suspect it might be at its end. 

people 54 years ago

I have spent a considerable part of the day scanning and labelling some slides given to me for a paper I'm writing. They're pictures taken by a planning academic who is no longer with us but who was in Tapiola in June 1972 and was interested in the town and some of its features particularly things pertaining to transport. He was especially interested in cycling. 

They're great pictures but something that has entranced me is the people in the background just living their lives, seemingly quite wholesomely. You can't see their faces (usually) but you can see their clothes and the way they carry themselves in public. It's really interesting to me, not necessarily because it's Finland and a place I love, Tapiola, although I suppose that's not a negative. Have a look. 

tapiola uimahallia (two weeks ago)

I think I already mentioned the swimming pool and its current degraded situation. Not sure what that's about. Clearly in its heyday it was the pride and joy of the town.

What amazed me about it, is I thought it was an 80s building. Nope. 

tapiola (two weeks ago) cont again

People at the lake which the Tapiola Park hotel looks out over. 

Here are a few vintage pics of the lake from the Raportti book.

tapiola (two weeks ago) cont

 These horses are ubiquitous in Tapiola and in fact... 

Here they are in a picture from Heiki von Hertz's Raportti, a book published in 1984 but the picture I think is much older, though unfortunately it's undated. 

Yes I bought this LP. of course I did. 

I would have liked this plate but it was very expensive and what would I do with it? 

All of this fun is happening at Heikintori, Finland's first shopping centre I gather, but sadly even I, who like to avoid all evidence of my own eyes whenever I can, have to admit it's seen better days. But maybe it'll see even better days one day - ? Anyway, it's not exactly buzzing these days, though it has decent op shops and some restaurants. That the escalator doesn't go upstairs anymore is kind of... telling. 

I actually didn't think there was anything upstairs, but there is. I'll tell you how I found out - I really wanted to experience this glass walled staircase at the adjoining car park:

So I did, and it was kind of a downer but an interesting downer. 

The car park: there were little kids running around so I didn't want to spend time there. 

So, this gives you entree into the upstairs. 

And then when you come down the stairs, there's this restaurant and someone noisily banging their spoon on their bowl as they scoop up the last bits of whatever they're eating.

Elsewhere in the shopping complex i.e. I'm not 100% certain whether this is Heikintori or something else, there was this which filled me with not rage but weary irritation when I first saw it because I thought it was pro-meat. But no. It's a meat substitute business although I can't really tell in what way, if any, it's interfacing with the public here. 

Back in what used to be, and probably isn't anymore, the main city centre area:

This building, designed by Aarne Ervi, is iconic locally and clearly had a huge impact worldwide when it was erected. I actually thought it was empty now but late at night I noticed quite a few levels had lights on, so... whatever that tells us. 

Here it is in a Readers Digest article on Tapiola from February 1966. 

And here it is in a weird facsimile version with other mini-sized Tapiola buildings. 

It gets to watch over this little version of itself every day.