Salo Evening Market

Every Thursday throughout the summer, the evening market in Salo (held on Thursdays) is packed with people, and today was no exception. It's part of the summer for those of us in this region.

Niko sits on his colleaugue's knee

There are stalls selling all the traditional Finnish summer goodies, such as strawberries, blueberries and new potatoes, as well as others offering jewellery, clothes, bags and second-hand items of every description. There is also a live band every week and several hundred people usually turn up simply for that reason.

Manoevering a pushchair round the market was tricky to say the least, especially as none of the three little ones wanted to sit in it. (An empty pushchair is just a little bit silly in a crowded market...)Thankfully we managed to make it home without losing any of them.

Luca enjoying an ice-cream

What you really feel at the market is s sense of Finns making the most of every minute of their summer holidays. In this country many people take four weeks off over the summer and enjoy a real break from work while the country and the weather is at its best.

My Facebook updates at the moment are full of Finns describing the details of their new-found summer freedom - what they are doing, what they are eating and of course never forgetting to celebrate the sun.

Marja-Leena and Kari

The highlight of Niko's day was meeting his colleagues (Niko tells us every day about his alternative life as a police officer and how many issues he has been sorting out) and having his photograph taken with them. As you can see, Niko himself was off-duty this afternoon, so no uniform this time.

We bought some strawberries which were gone before we even got home and also bumped into our good friends Kari and Marja-Leena on the bridge. (I'm hoping that seeing them was a good omen...and they know what I mean).

We were able to practise our Spanish with an Agentinian who made us some lovely ankle bracelets and I even found some pistachio ice-cream, whice was a real bonus. Another thing ticked off our summer list. Let's anjoy the summer while it's still with us.