Helena & Tom came round for dinner. Here we’re looking at Helena’s holiday snaps.

We’re in William K, a pub in our local Kallio district, celebrating Annemari’s move to Helsinki.

On the way home from the board games evening, just after midnight. Hakaniemi’s bright neon lights have never looked so pretty…

Scott & Séverine playing La Cita.

Michael explains (and explains…) this rather complex game to Iris.

Today it’s Marko’s turn to have a surprise birthday party, at Zetor, a Finnish-themed restaurant in central Helsinki.

A big gang of us gathered at a pub in Kruununhaka.

Eve & I watched a very good DVD yesterday evening: Twilight Samurai. It’s set in 19th-century Japan and is about a poor samurai. Eve loved the sense of the place and culture, and the wonderful scenery. For me, the best part was the portrayal of the main character, a man much more caring and down-to-earth than the samurai we normally see in films.

Yesterday evening we had our semi-regular board games evening, this time at our flat. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun I forgot to take any pictures :(.

Amongst the games we played were Six Nimmt!, Robo Rally, Finstere Flure and Spank the Monkey. (The last is a really poor choice of name for a very decent game, where the players built towers in a scrapyard and try to catch a monkey). My favourite was again Robo Rally – it’s a shame it’s no longer available (and horribly expensive on eBay).

Eve arranged for me a surprise birthday party after Mobile Monday 🙂