Hiya and Heips!
My budgie Kelly, whom I had for the past eleven years, died Tuesday night, my last night here before my vacation. His death was imminent, however I did not think he would succumb so quickly.
On Tuesday night Kelly was still climbing the bars of his cage, however since he had the use of only one leg, he used his left wing and beak to aid him. He ate and drank water, so I did not think his death would be so sudden. Yet on Wednesday morning Kelly lay still in the middle of his cage [1] and the shock hit me. My bird was gone. It is not easy to lose a pet, be it a dog, cat or ferret. A bird is no different from any of these companion animals. I am trying to find comfort in the fact that Kelly died while I was still at home, and I did not have to hear about the news via E-mail from my mother or brother.
Now to Finland. I flew Toronto-Frankfurt-Helsinki and much to my regret, my passport was stamped in Frankfurt and not Helsinki (no offence to Germany). I cleared German customs and therefore walked freely into Finland. No talking to Finnish customs about why I’m here, no Finnish chitchat about all the Finnish stamps in my passport, ei mitään. Once you’re in the EU, you’re in. At least I will get a Finnish stamp when I leave the country in May.
Tonight I will rest and sauna with my friends Tiffiny and Risto Rossi. I am staying with them in the city of Espoo, west of Helsinki. Tomorrow morning I will leave for the capital and buy train tickets to Rovaniemi and Jyväskylä, and then check out the bookstores and music stores. I have to buy the new album by Scandinavian Music Group, Nimikirjaimet, and try to learn it by Saturday! SMG is in concert at Tavastia Klubi and I don’t know any of their new songs yet. Some fan I am, eh!
[1] I had removed Kelly from the enormous cage he shared with Caatinga and Kakapo and placed him in a smaller cage that sat on the floor. Since Kelly could no longer sit on a perch, he crawled around on the towels I placed on the bottom of the new cage.