About washing windows

Yesterday we had some sunshine for the first time since the day we arrived. We woke up to clear skies and a light breeze. It was very cold, -17 according to the web, the icon used was a sun with an igloo - not one you would get in SA!

The clear sun made us see how dirty the windows really were, and I set about cleaning them. With the inside clean I realised how dirty the outside is, and as we only have one window that opens, I decided to clean that one. I realised my mistake as soon as I put the damp cloth onto the window. At -17 water freezes pretty quickly, so in the wake of my cloth I found ice particles rather than clean window. In fact, I definitely made the matter worse rather than better. That window will have to wait a couple of months before we can see out of it properly again.

We went for a walk because it was such a beautiful day, and came across the City Winter Garden. It is a greenhouse with "exotic" plants. We recognised at least half of them as plants you would find in any self-respecting SA garden. They had a magnificent Aloe Arborescens - and some yellowwoods - so when we are feeling homesick we have a place to go. The air in there is also humid, something you don't get here. All the humidity in the air just freezes...

We found a lovely little cafe at the yacht club (which is completely frozen over). It was called Regatta and was about the size of a small kitchen. It was really cozy and we had a lovely cup of coffee/hot chocolate together with a Runeberg cake. It is the Finnish national poet's day next week and everyone hoists flags and eats cake to remember him by.