While channel surfing Finnish TV one night this week a (actually the only) pop channel had a video of a Scandinavian duo doing a cover version of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's Summer Wine. The cover version was, um, interesting, and not a patch on the original. But it's difficult to imagine how anyone could improve on this.
Finland is beautiful. The people are friendly and welcoming. Helsinki is a cool northern European city. The Finns have no word for please but are very polite- they flypost using sellotape, but wouldn't dream of removing a poster from a phonebox (as I discovered when I undid a Screamadelica live in Helsinki poster, and a bus driver shook his head). Beer is expensive- a three-quarter of a pint of Koff is over six Euros. Buying four Koff provided me with amusement though, despite the price. All in all, a wonderful place, and one I'd definitely go back to. Even though the bastard baggage handlers didn't put our suitcases on the return flight.
