It's Thor's Day again and it seems everyone is hibernating like this bear. Well. not everyone, but many of the Thor's Day crew and many other participants, too. It is quite quiet mid-Challenge now. Many Finns might be sleeping today, too - or at least they are not working. There are lots of strikes today, planes, trains, ships, busses pretty much do not move, hotels and supermarkets are mostly open, but with limited staff and so on. You might remember, that last year (and couple of years before) we had a very popular young female left wing prime minister. Well, last spring we had election and our current prime minister is an old right wing male again and with his side kick a angry very right wing female minister of finance they have decided to cut pretty much everything to reduce foreign loans and "while everyone is affected by these hurtful cuts which wouldn't have happened, if left wings would have been reasonable" in practice most of the cuts affect the poorer part of the population. And while the government is also trying to make it more difficult for example to strike, many and more striking, because there is not really an option. So today we have lots of demonstrations, protests, rallies (however you call them) and a quite general strike. Most likely some got really drunk yesterday and are now sleeping...
:bear:
BEAR
The feeling when you just want to sleep all winter.
Sometimes, when the long dark winter seems to stretch endlessly ahead, you just feel the bears have a point in hibernating.
----- End of Finn talking about Finland -----
Like a said, it might be quiet day, but there is something!
- James provides us fine examples of both Polish and Canadian tanks
- MartijnN does a tour around the Library and somehow ends in last week (story in two parts)
- MartinC is bit like a bear, a quiet week (for him), but still some US cavalry and manga
- Bruce has been out in the wild painting Zulus
Oh yeah, I forgot. It is +2 Celcius at the moment, some sunshine and strong winds. Last night it rained pretty much everything. There should be some snow during the weekend and we will dive again to the minus side of the temperature.
ReplyDeleteThis is where the marathon runners do best !
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I expect constant results every week in order to reach the finish line! :)
DeleteAh, strikes. Justified or not, always affect persons not really involved in the matter. We have angry farmers blockading highways… Now for hibernating, that sounds like a plan! But we have a Challenge to do, so back to the painting desk. Have a good one, Teemu!
ReplyDeleteYes, this is a political strike. The government is also working to ban political strikes... :) And yes, there is a Challenge and you have not been hibernating, well done.
DeleteHave a good day. Enjoy your day if not your government!
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter, the day was enjoyable and today the sun is shining. The strikes continue today at least on busses and airplanes. And mail.
DeleteIt seems your right-wing politicians in Finland attended the same school of our right-wing politicians in Spain
ReplyDeleteI guess so, many of the changes are said to be based on "European values and practice", but at the same time they want to keep more independent from the EU than before...
Delete"...in practice most of the cuts affect the poorer part of the population."
ReplyDeleteThat is always the case; 'austerity' is always hardest on those that are already living austerely.
Yeah, not a surprise really. It is kind of funny, that many of their voters are affected by these changes, too. I wonder if they can keep those voters for four years or do they forget.
DeleteArgh politicians, making it more difficult for us to just hibernate and paint our models every day. Don't they know we have a hobby to do?! 😉
ReplyDeleteI sometimes think, that those politicians should have some hobbies. But hey, they do have, they increased the money allowance of the parliament hobby club, because "inflation and general increase of prices" and at the same time cut from others. :D
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