A colleague at the university asked, when I got back from a summer trip to Finland, how my holiday had gone.
I told him I was most impressed with the Finns:
- They were polyglots, speaking Finnish, Swedish and English (and German — see blog entry: The Helsinki fishmonger).
- Their transport ran on time.
- People picked up things like empty crisp packets from village greens if they came across them.
- They put thought into their architectural designs. For example, the main entrance for a block of flats opens outwards, so that in the event of a fire (and the likely ensuing stampede), people wouldn’t get trapped in the building with everyone pressing against the first person trying to open a door opening inwards.
At the end of this list of praises, the colleague said, “So, very boring then?”
(London, 1996)
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