Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

The weather forecasts have warned of potential snow and sleet this weekend, even in the South of the country.

Surprisingly, it felt quite nice and warm today on my way to the railway station. To increase my chances of being caught in snow in the middle of May, I am heading North to Jyväskylä
to say hello to a friend I last said hello to in Madrid back in February. An ideal opportunity to put the Elisa 3G mobile broadband to test as well, so I booked myself a "PC seat" on the train (i.e. one with a power socket) and here I am blogging away en route.

The philosopher and futurologist Luciano Florini (2007) has written an interesting account on people becoming "inforgs" ("connected informational organisms") in the information society where the boundaries between offline and online will eventually blur to the extent that to distinguish between them will become futile: "One day, being an inforg will be so natural that any disruption in our normal flow of information will make us sick".

Evidence of such conditions already exists, I myself a perfect example of a half-inforg/half-human travelling on this train, plugged into the laptop listening to music, connected to the web and constantly fearing that the 3G connection will be lost, that would equal to my journey being ruined. Wider evidence of the disruptions of information flows making us sick could be found in the various e-health developments, taking place in the UK as well as Finland. You can book doctors' appointments online (one day soon you will be expected to), manage prescriptions and find out about various treatments and conditions on the various self-help sites. Moreover, you will be expected to find out about the performance of hospitals when you choose where you have your operation done, or give birth, in this burgeoning "choice = empowerment" mode that policy makers want us consumer-citizens to embrace. Without the skills to dig out the relevant information, you are at risk of checking into the wrong hospital where you'll surely end up with a superbug, or worse.

Back to my very hands-on, off-line experiences of Helsinki, I visited an old school friend yesterday in Malminkartano, in the very northern periphery of Helsinki, a local train ride away. We watched Finland's ass being kicked by Russia in the semi-finals of the World Ice Hockey Championship. Less than a week ago I wasn't even aware of the tournament, now I was actually following a match! When in Rome... The four teams left in the game are the usual suspects: Finland, Russia, Canada and Sweden. As Canada beat Sweden last night, the bronze game will have an almost derby-like feel to it, Finns facing their favourite opponent, Sweden. My guess is that the defending champions Canada will hang on to the title this year, the Finland-Sweden match should be a nail-biting thriller.

On my way back to the city centre well after midnight, I discovered a gang of youths at the less than salubrious railway station of Malminkartano (pictured). Strangely, I didn't feel threatened - had I been in a similar situation in Manchester I would have had concerns about being there in the first place, let alone taking my phone out and capturing an image of the group as the train arrived. Minutes earlier, approaching the station, two or three grown-up ice hockey supporters staggered out of a local pub, one of them openly urinating in the middle of the pavement leaning onto a pillar outside their local. His friends giggled as they spotted me approaching. Tempted as I was to capture this obscenity on camera, I couldn't bring myself to stop or even slow down.

However, I had a very pleasant walk home through Helsinki in the early hours of the morning. Crossing Pitkä Silta [“long bridge” over Töölönlahti, connecting Hakaniemi to Kaisaniemi] I marvelled at the Eastern horizon where a strip of pale yellow was emerging at 3 am, birds chirping to welcome the rising sun, it was peaceful.