In Espoo

My friend Jari I have known back when we used to work in Bore Lines as deckhands both on Bore Queen. Some years later he worked as 1st Officer for me on Columbus Caravelle in Singapore and Malaysia. 

m/s Bore Queen

Since then Jari has moved out of Turku and settled down in Espoo, Haralahti with his long time wife Minna and their 5 year old daughter Olga in his own designed and built house, the typical Finnish high light of private life.

After stopping by the mall to get some food for the evening we sat down to exchange some highlights of life and recent happenings while enjoying Swedish beer, Lappland Gold. Then we started preparing the sauna and "palju" for heating up. Sauna is of course the Finnish must in a get together, but the "palju" is a new trend. Palju is a 2000 liter wooden cistern that has attached a wooden heating element. The wood is heat treated so it won't expand or shrink in atmospheric changes. Jari told me that he even uses it during winter, one only needs to wear a woollen cap to prevent the head from freezing over.

Same time Jari's daughter Olga was proving herself quite a chatterbox with opinions and stories for nearly everything. As the evening went on we stripped down and entered the palju, it was nearly 37 degrees and very comfortable. The cistern was designed in the shape of an octagon and had a bench all around inside of it so one could sit and chat while enjoying the warmth. After awhile we had to try out the sauna as well but the palju proved much more appealing in the end. I could say that one of the options is sufficient for bathing.

In the "palju"

Then it was bed time for Olga and I was designated to read the night time story for her. Soon enough she got tired of my droning and fell asleep.

I offered Jari a taste of Company wares in the form of Dalmore 12yrs old. Close to midnight Minna came from from work and it was also time for me to get some shuteye after being on the road for 24 hrs from India.