Santa looked a lot like daddy…
In the early 1960s, Santa Claus is wearing a gray coat. The world is black and white. In a small square-shaped photograph, the camera lens has captured the large man in the middle, who has […]
In the early 1960s, Santa Claus is wearing a gray coat. The world is black and white. In a small square-shaped photograph, the camera lens has captured the large man in the middle, who has […]
The autumn exam season was over, and there were only withdrawals in my bank account. The situation was unbearable. While partying with Italian students, I had gotten to know Giancarlo, a true Italian, who did […]
The superior mode of transportation in the 60s and 70s was the bicycle. With a bicycle, you could quickly and reliably get anywhere. Tapiola, the garden city, was not a maze-like stone city like Helsinki; […]
– Mom! I can’t tighten these. Can you press here, so I can tie the knot? The new Pro Champ Kobobol ice hockey skates are black leather with brown reinforcements. On the bottom of the […]
Tapiola was teeming with kids of the junior league age. The soccer league between residential areas had started even before we moved to Tapiola in the summer of 1960. I played soccer too, but love […]
”Ever since I was a young boyI’ve played the silver ball.” In the 1960s, many a child was enthralled for good when a Fortuna game emerged from the large package plucked from beneath the Christmas […]
The reason why the youth center of the Tapiola parish, officially named Olotila, started being called Räkälä – in English, it might have been Spittoon – is unclear. The name, however, perfectly suited the large […]
Räkälä, as the church’s youth club was called, had burnt to the ground and Heikintori’s disco didn’t even have a B-license. Teenagers on the verge of adulthood could smoke cigarettes publicly – if they dared. […]
The start of the autumn day is translucently clear. As the mornings can still be in late September – at its best. The slow turning of the season towards a few-hour-long, sunless, gray days is […]
The door swishes closed behind me and the carriage jerks into motion. I managed to catch the earlier train after all. I sprinted the last hundred meters at full trot; it was worth it. Waiting […]