Well I leave June 25th, so I should get a taste of summer. Also I can come back for the fall if I want to.

And you guys all secretly like it, I suspect. Because where do all the Brits, Scots, and Irish move when coming to the US? The Pacific Northwest, where it does the same, exact, thing:)

I actually work with a sundry group of people like that.
If it's any later than Sept. 1 it might be too late. I don't know what else you have going on or how feasible it is, but the later you can stay in the summer the more you'll enjoy it. You have an opportunity that not many people get after they hit 25 or so and from what you said you seem to be at a bit of a crossroads so you are picking "where" you go. There's something magical about having nothing to do all day besides hopping a train and ending up near some mountain that is begging to be climbed or hanging out with new friends that deep down actually don't have many of the preconceived notions you didn't even realize you had.

I know you're getting some of that right now, but you're working and the weather is bad. People act different and do different things in the summer, don't miss summer if you can help it. You know what summer is like back home and you probably have a lot more of those to look forward to. This may be the last time you find yourself over there (your plans may change), grab it! I always thought I was going back, it's been nearly 20 years...

You might be right...

One thing's for sure, we do like to moan, so this is the perfect thread for a Brit :)

Yes, but you guys are one of my favorite types of insane:) Well, except when the world cup comes on and we all see what that 72 inch conference room TV is really for, and we have to pick up the slack, then we like you less;)

I have a distant relative who went hunting for big cats in Norfolk. I think he was supposed to be on the trail of a panther. Never did find it, of course.

We'll see how things develop... right now I miss home and my ex is talking about maybe getting back together, but in two months maybe I won't miss home anymore and her and I will be over again. Who knows.

Going out with a bicycle in this weather... Grazy Finns!

I usually don't mind this kind of weather much, all the more good excuse to stay at home playing GOG games and watching movies. I decided not to go training today, not because of weather, but because I also decided to clean the home this weekend, washing the fifth set of clothes today, partly because I changed the bed sheets too. My gf will be very proud of me.

And if I was going somewhere today, I would have used my car. Sure it is harder to drive now, but it just makes driving more interesting.

The weather is slowly becoming brighter and warmer every day anyway, soon it will be spring, birds will be singing and squirrels will be having sex like grazy etc. First world problems anyway.

Too little vodka.

Oh yeah, and for people who prefer warm temperatures, certainly Nordic countries are not the place to live. The summer here _can_ be quite warm and pleasant, but also quite short (definitely not longer than June-August, beyond that it is more or less chilly, ie. you definitely need something on top of your T-shirt, sometimes even during the summer).

I agree with AlKim though that the 0 => +1 Celsius degrees weather with sleet etc. is the worst kind of weather (the following days seem to be like that, before it was colder). That's why I preferred a couple days and weeks back when it was around -10 Celsius or even lower here. I wish the whole "a couple of months around zero degrees" between summer and winter could be bypassed altogether, and it is also the reason why I hated the Danish winter.

I live in Turku, which is pretty far south and houses a harbour, so logically is located close to the sea. Springtime - please be here soon - is nice, summers are great and autumns aren't too bad most of the time. I hardly ever complain about rain or heat because snow sucks so much more. I would gladly trade three-four months of snow for three-four months of constant rain, for instance. But yeah, if you absolutely must come to Finland, do it in the summer when the sun shines, the people are at their happiest, you don't have to spend half an hour dressing up just to take out the garbage, you can go to have a beer at midday and come home after midnight, when it's still light ouside, having spent the day drooling after girls. Sometimes it even manages to convince me that I can put up with winter in exchange for all that.

It was either the bike or walking, and since the shop is reasonably far away, I chose the bike. No need for a car in the city, not that I wouldn't like to have one. Preferably a TVR or something instead of the Opels and Toyotas and other dreary nonsense everyone else drives.

It's +2C now. I think the term that describes my current mental state rhymes with "clucking bell". Let's hope it shifts ten degrees up or down ASAP.

What the fark is it with Hollywood making 'reboot' after reboot?. So boring and uncreative :/.

And is there really a significant demand? I guess such films will continue to be made as long as there are enough people willing to pay to watch.

yeah about that employment thing... we were all fired last week for the reason of "there is no money left to pay you all". This comes right after a month of pretty much 50-60 hours of work per week as we were promised that investors would like to invest in our company even more if we show decent productivity. take all this in with a final lie of our then-ceo about the promised money coming in "every minute now"...

So the other day the unemployment office tells me I won't get any money as I've not been employed long enough. They demand 12 months of employment and I've been only employed for 11,5 months. Yeah... So much for bitching, I think there shouldn't be any problem for me to find a new job in my field of work (software development). The problem is I'd rather bootstrap my own indie game development studio but with all these lies and money not getting paid I'm far from the point where I could even think about such a thing... Well it's back to business apps and report coding then I fear.

That stuff is more boring but pays way better and you go home on time. I don't really regret going that route.

To continue AlKim's bitching about the weather here... wow does it change day to day! As he said, on Sunday lots of snow came down, making cycling quite hard. :)

Yesterday, on the other hand, was a lovely day. Sun was shining brightly, and it was the first day this year that there was even a hint or at least promise of spring in the air, even though it was still near zero degrees. The sun actually felt a bit warm and was so bright that it was hurting my eyes (you know, dark winter without any light etc.).

But today... wow, sleet (watery snow) is going sideways outside right now.

But who cares, I'm in a warm office doing tidy office work, and most of the colleagues are out of office (this week the schools here are closed, families go to winter vacation, either to ski in the north, or to Thailand/Phuket for some sun), most meetings cancelled this week, so there's no one bugging me this week either.

Good thing I didn't go to work for the post office, a parking company or as a constructor.

Despite it supposedly being the dry season, the last few days have been surprisingly cool and wet here, and friends in Thailand have said it's been the same there.

Back to bitching about life: My dogs seem to have fleas or something, my girlfriend's mum is staying with us for a few days and as nice as she is she's driving me mental, and I'm bored to death of waiting for PC parts to arrive. [/rant]