Hypnosis and Normal Scenery

My Spanish friend Eldha calls me: "Viene una amiga de mi amiga Paloma a Tampere. ?Puede quedarse en tu casa?" "Claro que puede. ?Cuándo viene?" "El sábado." "Muy bien. Díle que es bienvenida."

Eldha calls me on Wednesday. She has no further information. She does not know exactly who is coming. It must be one of the two very good friends of Paloma.

I´m very happy and hope she´ll stay at least a week. We´ll have time enough to plan something interesting and my Spanish gets activated.

On Friday I have to call Eldha to ask at what time I need to be at the airport. "Sorry, they are not coming on Saturday. They´ll come on Monday." Eldha explains. "All right. How many people are coming?" "Well, it´s Flavia and her two children." "Fine, I´ll meet them on Monday."

Children coming! They certainly want to go to the amusement park. The only problem is that there´s no room in the house, since Seela´s and Samuli´s furniture, loudspekares, books, boxes, plastic bags and sacks are spread everywhere. "This house is like a central warehouse." Samuli says, although all rooms can be entered carefully walking along a narrow path in the middle of all objects.

My mind starts scanning the situation: "I have to tell people that the house is so full of books, boxes and broken chairs that I can´t find a place for two children to sleep. It´s unforgivable. I have to do something."

On Sunday morning I start to work: books from the sofa and floor into bookshelves, broken chairs into the garage, piles of paper into boxes, boxes into the basement etc, etc. I work the whole day. By five-thirty I have one room empty and the basement more or less in order. Tomorrow I´ll have time enough to put away a sofaful of Seela´s clothes.

When some visitors come at six, the house is clean. There are no heaps of this or that anywhere. There is no smell of dust. I feel really satsified. Tomorrw I´ll go to the airport to meet the visitors.

At nine I get a phone call. It is Flavia, la amiga de Paloma. They are not coming until Friday and they are not planning to come to Tampere at all. They have reserved hotels and cottages, they´ll rent a car and go to Lapland and the Arctic Circle. That´s the normal tourists do.

What a disappointment! The room is waiting for them to come. I had also got used to the idea of going to the amusement park as well. Now Flavia says that her children are twenty-year-old young adults.

It is Thursday today. What is happening? Well, everyhting is getting normal. The house is starting to collect piles of paper, books, clothes and shoes here and there. The smell of dust is returning - slowly, but inevitably.

However, I still have some hope that Flavia and her children will choose the road number three from Helsinki to Jyväskylä instead of choosing the road number four that goes via Lahti.

The road number three is a bit longer, but what does it matter when you are on a holiday. Anyway, the scenery - the normal scenery in Finland - is green forests, a glimpse of a blue or grey lake, more green forests, again a glimpse of a lake and then more forests, green, forests, green, green and a glimpse of blue lake...

Yes, there are houses here and there, but my experience is that Spanish people get hypnotised by the abundancy of the green around them. They fall asleep looking at it. And just when they could see a couple of houses, you hear them snoring slightly. By the time they are awake again, they see some more green forests and an occasional glimpse of a lake...

And anyway, Tampere is worth visiting. You need to choose kesäinen Tampere on the page referred to to see what my city looks like just now. If you want to see the autumn we are very quickly approaching, your choice is syksyinen Tampere...

What have I learnt of this incident? If you want to make me happy, just inform me that some friends of yours are coming for a visit. That makes my mind choose a panopticon look at my own life and surroundings (see especially figure number 16). Expecting to see new friends in a more or less well-organised home is a real and concrete enjoyment! All social pressure coming from outside is not unpleasant at all. It´s interesting to see if Flavia and her children will change their route! They are very warmly welcome - bienvenidos!