The summer is short and most of it is washed away by rain anyway.
Song by Tomas Ledin
Headlines in Finnish news outlets during June were about as cheerful as the lines from Tomas Ledin’s song: “Harvest catastrophe caused by rains”, “More mosquitos than usual”, “July will start wet”. But even when the rain stops, the headlines don’t lighten up. Instead, they turn towards issues of spreading ticks and how to detect skin cancer. Unless there has been a recent epidemic outbreak of clinical depression among Finnish journalists, one has to ask: “What is wrong with the Finnish summer?”.
Actually, most Finns would insist that summer is great. This has, I think, a lot to do with the notion of freedom. Freedom from layers of clothes and freedom to pursue outdoor life. But, of course, like so often, our notions of something are infringed on by reality.
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