The procedure of purchase

Previously, I said I'd go through what happened with the purchase of the house. It was quite a while ago now, so the memory is a little rusty - I'll do what I can if you can stay with me.

We had already sent a deposit to the agent via the bank, which arrived safely. When our remortgage money came through, we had to wire the balance over in the same way and this happened about a week before we were about to leave. There was some frantic communication between the agent and myself as it seemed the money had gone missing! Eek! I reconfirmed the IBAN and SWIFT numbers we had sent them to, and the agent investigated his end. Disaster...there was a number wrong. It turned out the money was sitting in a 'holding' account with our bank as it had nowehere to go (thanks for letting me know Lloyds TSB :/). We managed to get it sorted with a promise from the bank that it would be sent that very day. Phew. Crisis averted.

After spending the usual wonderful first weekend with our friends in Uusimaa, and loaded the car up with Ikea essentials; we were really excited to take the drive to Mikelli to meet the agent and sign the paperwork. Upon arrival, we were greeted warmly by the agent, with a handshake and a hug! So much for 'cold' Finns! He provided us with coffee and said we were waiting for the sellers and the local notary. I tried not to look puzzled....the sellers were coming? This would be interesting.....

The farmer and his wife (ee-i-addi-o) arrived and we shook hands. Neither spoke any English (and nor should they) as the agent made the introductions. There was much nodding and smiling so much my teeth dried up. Then the notary arrived. It was explained that this was the person who would handle all the legalities of the paperwork; overseeing our signatures, checking ID on both sides - passports for us and ID cards for the sellers. The agents quickly translated the paperwork and everything was soon completed with payment to the notary being made also. The notary appeared a bit fierce to begin with, until after the deal was made; and then he warmed up a little, asking us whereabouts in the UK we came from and what that area was like. After he left, the agent informed us that the notary was somewhat fascinated with England - maybe he was a little wary of us instead!

Our agent (oh, I'm going to use his name now - Arto) accompanied us to the electricity company to help us set things up for billing, and took Dom to the land registry department where he was given a map of our fishing rights in the area - we have loads! Dom told me that Arto seemed to have a lot of swing in the area, virtually commanding the registry office to hand over the map to Dom! It transpired that he is also the pastor of the church in Mikelli. An estate agent with a religious belief! No wonder he was so wonderfully helpful We certainly could not have had such a smooth process if it hadn't been for him. After that, we each got into our cars and he offered to lead the way to the house. I had the sat nav, so said I'd be alright and off we went.

I still remember that feeling as we drove up to our new 'holiday' abode. It was a LOT bigger than I'd anticipated. I swore and turned to Dom saying, 'What have we done?' Arto unlocked the door and ushered us in, giving us a guided tour and showing us how things worked, before shooting off and leaving us alone.

You can see from the picture, left, how huge the house looked next to our little hire car! I spent the first week constructing furniture and arranging everything to my satisfaction. We did get a chap in to put our television ariel up - again through Arto, as the chap spoke no English!

Please don't think that we expect everyone to talk to us in our native tongue - it's just our Finnish is extremely poor and the call for Finnish language lessons in deepest, darkest Devon is not a large one, as you might imagine. Most of the time we do quite well with the odd Finnish word and plenty of mime.

But as you can gather, no waiting six weeks for solicitors to 'do their stuff', just a plain and straightforward transaction. Just like that (as Tommy Cooper used to say). I can only speak from our own experience. Also, I have heard that valuing over there is different too. I understand that it's not estate agents who value the property, people ask what they need for their houses. Sounds cool to me.

What shall I write about next? Maybe show you the area which we are attached to? Yes, that sounds like a plan, Stan.

Back in Blighty....

So we have returned to the UK for another year. It's amazing the differences we notice immediately on our return, which has also led me to reflect a little more on our time in my favourite country.

Whenever we return, even coming into land, you can see how much the landscape of Britain has been raped and plundered. Everything is so....flat. Not many patches of forest, lots of ploughed field separated by scrubby hedges; and of course lots of houses. I had to drive to the supermarket today after our month away and was taken aback by the amount of cars EVERYWHERE. But then, you must remember that while Finland is about 3.5 times the size of the UK, they also have a population of a mere 5 million people, compared to the 65 million or so residing in the UK. I realise that if Finland had 65 million people, things would look a lot different. It also leads me to wonder, why isn't the population larger? You would think in the Winter, there wouldn't be much to do!

I was also struck by how much 'fear' we live our lives in, in Britain. When we first arrived in Helsinki this year, I accompanied my friend and her 2 year old child to a local park. Whilst there, a boy on a bike came over to chat to us and remained with us for some time. He showed me things in the park and chatted to other passers by. To be honest, I felt a little uncomfortable. Had an unknown adult tried to strike a conversation with a child, immediate cries of 'paedophile!' could be heard in your head and probably the child's too. When we visited and stayed with a family in Lapland, their 7 year old was off at a skate park and had been all day while they were at work. He didn't return home until around 7.30pm, under his own steam. No parent felt the need to go and collect him.

This led me to cast my mind back to when I was a child in the 1970's. It was a similar situation as Finland today. A whole gang of us who lived in the same road used to be out in the Summer from after breakfast until we would magically appear in time for dinner. And our parents didn't know where we were. And they didn't worry either. It's very sad that these days have gone.

On the return journey, I composed a list of things to bring next year that I can't seem to find in Finland. I expect it will get longer....

Wooden spoons
Marmite
Jungle Formula insect repellent
Decent cheese grater
Milton sterilizing fluid

The start of the Blog...

We've been here for three weeks now at our little corner of paradise in Finland. How we came to be here is a bit of a story, which I will expand on at a later date. I will also write more about what has happened this year when we return to England, as the computer we have in Finland is old and wheezes like a person with chronic emphysema.

But, today a chap turned up with a map and asked to park on our land. As we continued to talk, he informed us that the farmer that owns the surrounding land of our paradise, wants to chop lots of the forest down. The visitor rubbed his fingers together and said, 'It's all about money.' He also suggested we buy the land ourselves. I think this has come from the farmer as he tried the same thing with me last year. The visitor, Juha, looked at the map and told us it would cost about 40,000euro - which we don't have.

One of the reasons I love it here is for the peace and the nature, even having previously been a 'city girl'. I am happy for hours sat outside and watching everything being 'busy'. The birds, insects and animals going about their daily business of feeding their young, themselves, looking for shelter or a mate. As more forest gets decimated, where will they go? Or will they die? I don't want this to happen. I have no idea if we have anything rare here; but that is not the point. I don't want this spoiled.

In future, I'm hoping to expand on this blog with pictures and anecdotes of the time we spend here and the people we meet. I'm also thinking of starting to ask for donations to go towards buying the farmer out and just leaving the forest to be itself. I can't afford to do this on my own and maybe, one day, this blog will be read by people worldwide who want to help. Think about it - if 40,000 people read this and each gave their equivalent of 1 euro - that would be the forest saved. 40,000 people is not a lot in the big wide world.

I ask that if you read this, you ask a friend or two to also look, who could ask more friends and so on.And wouldn't it be cool if you knew you'd helped save wildlife from the grabbing hands of greedy people.