Bah Humbug

 

After a couple of days of travel that actually had us considering River Cruises for our next adventure, the journey from Lulea (Sweden) to Rovaniemi (Finland) was expected to be our most complicated of the trip. We caught an early bus from Lulea to Haparando on the Swedish border without incident. In the bus station, yes in the middle of the bus station, we crossed the border from Sweden to Finland and caught another bus to the town of Kemi. With only fifteen minutes to make the train connection to Rovaniemi we knew it could be tight, but as it turned out the train was delayed so there was no rush. So far so good.

 

Waiting on the railway station Wendy shared her concrete step (there weren’t any seats) with a Finnish woman who was keen to practise her schoolgirl English and with Wendy’s schoolteacher patience they warmed into a long conversation. After a time the lady was so excited that she said, “I can’t believe I am talking to an Australian in English. I need to get my man to meet you” She returned with Big Ben, an English nickname he had acquired during his time as an apprentice motor mechanic.

 

The four of us had a wonderful conversation which passed the 90 minute delay. We talked of children and grandchildren and then learnt about how central heating in Kemi is powered by wood burning, the future of Finland’s aging Russian nuclear power stations, local wildlife, Finnish food and a range of other interesting topics, all in broken English. Their English was much better than our non-existent Finnish. This is what we love about travel on local public transport, meeting the locals.

During the conversation Ben became excited telling Richard about his cars. His current restoration is a 1967 Ford Anglia, but previously he had restored a little car which he called ‘a go mobile’.

Richard asked, “Would you spell that G-O-G-G-O!”

“Yes!” came the reply

Richard then asked the next obvious question, “Not the Dart?” Ben’s face lit up, “YES! It was a Dart!”

Fortunately, it did not have a broken fret! (For the younger generation reading this there was a memorable TV ad  in the 90s which will make sense of this very strange conversation happening on a railway platform in the back blocks of Finland)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvOz_qUPbXo

 

Finally, the train arrived but our trip ended one station short of Rovaniemi. This station reminded us of a bad 1950s war movie when the Germans forced people off a train at a deserted station, but fortunately today no one is shot, just a lot of people squeezing on and off very crowded buses.

 

In the story The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe CS Lewis describes Narnia as a place where it is ‘always winter but never Christmas’. Rovaniemi today is warm with no sign of winter, but Christmas is in full swing. This tourist town billed as the ‘Home of Santa Clause’ is the perfect place to break our journey to Helsinki. 75% of Finland is covered in plantation forests so there are very few places to stay and this was the only option.

 

Santa Clause Village is a huge caravan park located on the Arctic Circle. It is quite empty in mid-summer, our accommodation is a traditional red and white cabin. It’s basic but comfortable with ensuite bathroom and its own sauna. The Post Office which receives children’s letters to Santa from all over the world is a big part of this huge tourist complex. The lights,

Christmas trees and decorations must look beautiful in the snow covered winter twilight, but during 24 hours of daylight and with temperatures peaking at 27 the charm is somewhat missing, but thankfully so are the crowds.

 

Transport south tomorrow is a local Lapland overnight sleigh ride powered by reindeer, which promises to deliver us to Tasmania in under 12 hours. But, of course, that’s the winter timetable. It doesn’t run in the summer! Bah Humbug!