Breaking the mould.

So, I did promise that when something happens, I deliver some good stuff for you all to enjoy. This summer that has been all about working and eating and sleeping every now and then got a much needed tonic when few Dragons from London flew over to enjoy the summer of Northern Europe. Actually, she is from Detroit and he is from Prague, but let's not get stuck in to details here.

It all began May 16 when Suzy expressed her interest in coming over to enjoy the grace of my native land. The country that is known as the "The Land of Thousand Lakes" (actually, the accurate number according to environment administration is 187,888), the country that boasts with most driver's World Rally Championship -titles, the country that kicked ass of an army somewhat tenfold stronger and the country that is proud to call NHL's all-time rookie's points record holder as one its own. Finland.

Meanwhile in another Gmail chat window, Dragons' very own Martin St.Louis, Martin Lambert, was honing his plans too. He was on his way to Vincent Garcia's wedding to our funny little western neighbour, Sweden. A country whose men do not know how to play ice hockey, and to prove that, we got six reasons against their one from few months back. Little did I know that these two who didn't admit that they are a couple back in London, had been planning a trip together all along. But it was a pleasant surprise to find out that they are going to jump on the same Ryanair flight FR2194 from London Stansted to Tampere-Pirkkala INTERNATIONAL airport.

So, in one week we managed to squeeze in rolling around Tampere, Beach party with some LakeJumping action and a day in Stockholm -cruise. For them or course it was a one way -trip, because they were attending the wedding few days after our brief visit in Sweden. No one have probably had the patience to even read this, so let's roll out the audiovisual treats we managed to capture along the way.

Going to Ideapark to get some supplies like life vests and toiletries...

Chillin' at Sara's parents. Yes, they did bring BUIHA cup for me. 

Martin "2laps" Lambert strikes a pose at Jack the Rooster's terrace.

Suzy eager to get something to eat.

How u doin'?

Pyynikki beach.

Suzy "testing the waters".

So cute ^_^

After one day getting to know Tampere inside out and BBQing at Kangasala, it was time to make drastic move towards north and hit our parents ranch for some partying, good old fashion Kangasala style. Just so happened to be that this date was also the date of birth of a very good friend of mine by the name of Juho Viiala. This meant that we were able to mix two group of people, and at first it seemed that with this roster there is no way we could all survive this evening alive. But as usual, everything went better than expected.

Suzy, Martin, Sara, Olli, Laura, Me, Mum and Dad. And lots of wine.

Martin getting all friendly with Juho's buddies.

The venue.

Osku & Hellclicker 

Back360flip...or something? In this one, the bike actually ended up ON the pier. Talk about a close shave...

Bday boy flips out.

DJ Norri chucks a BIG dive.

Pretty boys hanging out.

This video was shot with GoPro camera, mounted to the chest or to the nose of a stick in this case.

Video edited and camera owned by: Joonas Riihelä

Probably the most spectacular fail of the day. And the crowd loves it!

After we had gotten party started, it was time to hit the clubs in Tampere. Eventually we did manage to gather up in Miami nightclub and that is where the night ended. Although for some it had ended already bit earlier. Sunday was surprisingly calm and most of the day was spent chillin' at the very pier we spent the Friday on, eating fresh berries, shooting with .22 rifle and wondering the similarity of the forests in Finland, Czech and American-Canadian border. On Monday our guests hopped on a train to Helsinki where they would be hosted by former Dragon, Nils Paajanen. We joined forces again with them on Wednesday and four of us boarded Silja Symphony and set sails towards Stockholm. On board we of course followed traditions and immediately grabbed beers before heading to upper deck to see what Helsinki looks like from the Baltic Sea.

At the Olympic Terminal

Martin enjoying the sun.

Sunset in the Baltic Sea.

Vik laying down the law and Dima doing his Mr. Burns impression.

On the way back it was very, very nice to get some quiet time together with my beautiful girl without any fuzz or rush we tend to have (or create) in everyday life. Some wine (beer), talking, chilling, buying perfumes and watching the Swedish coast really gave us a much needed break from just working. We were originally scheduled to head straight from Helsinki towards Eastern Finland and to Sara's summer cottage, but it backfired as the rain was pouring down and some dude named Noah was launching a big ass ark over there and that kinda made the trip not worth the five-six hour drive. So, we pulled up another winner from our bag of tricks and decided to stay in Helsinki and hit the clubs, which I actually had never done before in this particular town.

After visiting our friend Noora from Tampere (she is really not that much of a friend of mine) and grabbing drinks in some random bar, we took a call to our friend Jari. He luckily happened to be on his way to Helsinki with his brother and we got his blessing to crash at his for the night. So we ditched the car, headed to his flat and threw our beers and wine in to the fridge and a good night was taking it's first steps. We met up with my and Jari's old army friend and with Sara's old friend she hasn't seen in years, and she also joined us when we headed to Kaivohuone.

After a massive week of partying and taking it easy, it was nice in a way to head back to the factory and earn some serious, cold hard cash instead of just spending it. However, only five days from this moment a moment we have been waiting for quite a while is at hand. Five days, or roughly 120 hours from now we are about to land or have just arrived to London-Stansted airport. There we will reunite with our beloved new hometown and start the quest of finding a new flat. Market seems to be quite good at the moment and agents keen on getting some Finns in to their represented apartments, so everything seems to be going our way. So far. We managed to sneak by any major upsets last year, mostly thanks to our more experienced housemates, and we can only hope that we will sneak by them again. And show our new housemates an easier way of doing things, because for once we are the more experienced couple in living somewhere.

Finnish summer is still raging on but my sights are already firmly set to next autumn and the beginning of a new year in London Met. I simply can't wait to meet old friends from uni again, accompanied by few (seven) pitchers in The Rocket. I am also anxious to get back on ice in London and to see old and hopefully few new Dragons too! This summer has not been what I wanted to it to be hockey wise, but I hope we will get there before the season starts. Only goal we have is to keep the Cup in London, where it belongs.

Excited? Yes. Missing London? Hell yes.