Domestic difficulties

Some things the Finns have very good reason to do in the winter when it is cold, and that is apart from all winter sport activities.

The Finns have learned to take advantage of the subzero temperatures making use of it in their household chores, which is one thing I have wisely taken after them into practice. When it is cold enough it is good to leave your bed ware like pillows and blankets hanging out in the cold to freeze so you get rid of some of the bugs that otherwise might gather in them and you do not necessarily have to wash them as often. Also your rugs, mats and carpets will get refreshed by having a tumble in the snow for a while, which is not as easy to do when living in an urban area, leave them in the snow for a while, shake off the snow and they are ready to be carried inside again.

The smell is just fantastic, light and refreshing like linen that has been dried outside in the sun!

Mind you, this rug trick has to be performed when really cold and crisp so the carpets don’t get all wet and soggy, which would ruin the benefit of the dry coldness. If it's not a dry coldness you're better off washing them instead.

One thing I forgot to do last year, when there were these extremely cold temperatures, almost -30 degrees Celsius even here in southern Finland was defrosting the freezer. The cold kept on for about two months, if I remember it correctly and the cold snap was just for a fortnight but it still was not long enough for me to remember defrosting the freezer.

This winter I have been thinking about my problem, as the freezer slowly is getting fuller and fuller with this on-use excessive ice gathering on the edges, the sides and the top so I have access to less storage for frozen food. Now I am waiting for it to get cold enough for me to have to time to defrost the freezer, as chucking deep frozen food into room temperature is not a good choice, neither are the couple of plus degrees it is outside which both would result in the produce melting with water dripping around and with my luck I bet the cold snap comes when I am away and am not able to take advantage of this magnificent opportunity.

One thing that is good with the mild winter up here in the northern hemisphere and the global warming is that the sailing time to China has been halved to 20 days instead sailing through the Arctic Sea and passing by the northern Russian territories. It takes 40 days it takes to sail around Western Europe, through to the Mediterranean passing by the Suez Canal and further through the Indian Ocean to China. Guess the Suez Canal already made a change in sailing times to China at the time.

The arctic ice melting is just a bit shame as some species of animals, and many more than just the currently always mentioned polar bears will disappear, as it is too warm for them to live.