In circles

Speaking of observing Finns in their natural environment, what better way to study their natural drinking habits than to be stranded without a place to stay in a large city like Tampere the night people graduate from high school and get totally and completely wasted all night? Well, perhaps it's not so good to study the extremes. But the fact of the matter is, it's almost 3AM, I'm sitting in a Hesburger, and the line to get food shows no sign of subsiding, and it is dawn.

Earlier J and I did the drinking at the park thing with a can of cider each and we spent too long at it, so by the time we got to the amusement park it was _just_ closed so we went to a public sauna instead. Unfortunately, we found out after that that the last transportation back to jkl had gone at 2115, 30 minutes before, and J's friend (whom she called) was being unkind and not lending anyone a place to sleep.

So we walked a lot in circles and observed some, uh, natural Finnish drinking behaviour. Then went to some karaoke bar (no fanclub) and had the most expensive rum and coke ever, which tasted a bit like grass jelly with syrup. Then walked in circles a bit more and ended up in here. I feel that we won't be here for long, though. Earlier we tried to sleep in a park but because I'm not wearing long pants the bugs were giving me a hard time.

We stood around outside for about 45 minutes and then wandered to the McD's, where these guys next to me are swearing a lot.

Observation: people don't get stupid until 4:15AM.
Observation: on a day like this even McDonald's has a bouncer.
Observation: at this hour one doesn't _line_ up at McD's. One _mobs_ up.
Interesting habit: People mixing pepper into their ketchup.

The Pizza Incident

~ A sketch which ought to be in Finnish
but isn't, because it doesn't need to
be - but I suppose it works best that
way since it is as though it comes from
a Finnish film ~

It is early morning at a train station. The 
station has just opened its doors. There are rows 
of benches in the lobby and people are sleeping 
and sitting on them.  We focus on two of these 
benches, which are side by side in a row, and a 
bit of a third bench can be seen beside these at 
stage right.  A man (MAN 2) is sleeping on it.

MAN 1 is laying across the centre bench, his head 
on a stack of newspapers as a pillow. He has 
greying hair, and looks weary as though he has 
spent the entire night awake. There is a takeout 
pizza box under his bench, with a third of a cold 
Hawaiian pizza in it.

WOMAN is sitting on the bench at stage left, on 
the side closest to MAN 1. She has long, brown, 
disheveled hair and a worn out, wrinkled face.  
She is clutching a large bag and drinking from 
a large carton of orange juice.

WOMAN and MAN 1 converse loudly for a few minutes 
- small talk - then MAN 1 falls asleep. WOMAN puts 
away the juice and also falls asleep, sitting.

HOUSEKEEPER comes by and sweeps up the garbage 
under the benches, putting it into the bag on 
her trolley.  She picks up the pizza box and puts 
it also into the garbage bag.  She leaves the 
trolley and continues sweeping.

MAN 3 is tall and dressed casually in black pants 
and a black jacket. He looks well-built, but 
we never see his face. He comes from stage left 
and wakes up MAN 1, then MAN 2 (with some 
difficulty), asking them for a smoke (and failing 
to get one), then walks off stage right. MAN 2 
quickly falls back asleep.

MAN 1 looks under his bench, then rouses WOMAN.

MAN 1 rolls over, still trying to sleep. WOMAN 
spots HOUSEKEEPER's trolley near her. She goes 
over, looks in the garbage bag, and retrieves 
the pizza box, first looking inside it to be 
sure it's the correct box. She leaves it under 
MAN 1's bench, where it used to be. WOMAN drinks 
orange juice for a bit, then leaves.

HOUSEKEEPER returns and takes the trolley away.

MAN 4 appears and sits at the bench at left. He
spots the pizza box, picks it up, and opens it. 
Seeing the pizza inside, he takes out a slice
and eats it. He returns the box to its place,
lays down on the bench, and sleeps.