186 Unplug Your Holiday

”i---”で始まるありとあらゆるガジェットや携帯電話から離れた休息の日々は、自分で作るしかありません。携帯のつながらない島かどこかに行くのも良いですが、行ったとたん電話をかけたくなるようなことが起きたりします。ただ何もしないのも手ですが、何もしないよりもっと解放的で、楽しくて、ためになる方法は幾つでも挙げられます。

No.1　自転車掃除

休日の朝、バケツ一杯の水と布巾があれば十分です。自転車というのは車ほど大きすぎず、30分か40分ほども掃除に没頭するにはちょうどいい持ち物です。パーツがすべて外に出ているため、何となく拭いているうちにいつのまにかすみずみまできれいになっているのです。構造が単純なわりに、ペダルあり、サドルあり、ライトあり、タイヤあり、ブレーキあり、チェーンありと紆余曲折、うまいこと飽きないようになっているのも魅力です。

No.2  皮革製品の手入れ

靴でも鞄でも財布でも何でもいいのですが、手入れをした方がよさそうなものが一つや二つあるでしょう。この楽しみは汚れ落としと補修クリームとつや出しを買ってくるところから始まります。どれもこれも種類がたくさんある上に、専用ブラシだのクロスだのスプレーだのも揃っています（これに比べれば歯磨きクリームの種類なんてものの数ではありません）。実際、皮製品の手入れは複雑です。でも手の中で磨きはじめれば、まるで熟練した職人のような気分にすぐなれます。

No.3  エア・ギターを弾く

馬鹿馬鹿しい、と思うかもしれません。まあ確かに自転車掃除や靴磨きと違って何の役にも立たないのですが、歌が歌えなくても、ギターが弾けなくても、ただその物真似をすることが世界選手権にまでなるほど人気があるなら、ちょっと試してみたって害はないでしょう。弾いてみれば分かりますがこれが結構むずかしい。それらしく構えて見せるのはもちろん、動きをギターの音色に完全に一致させるのは素人技ではありません。

つまり手を動かし、手を使うことを実感できれば何でもいいのです。キーボードをたたいたり、ボタンを押したり、ディスプレイを滑らせたりするための手をいったん頭から追いやって、自分の手が本来いかによく動き、繊細な働きをするか確認できたなら。それは実に解放的な気分です。

185 RGRL#9 Last Minutes

Just one more story to end this journey notes, because I liked the city so much that I still remember the last minutes at the Helsinki airport, and in the flight to back home.

Helsinki Vantaa airport is a functional and fine-designed building. Passengers have only to follow the corridor from the entrance to the bording gate. On that sunny afternoon the airport was packed with so many people. Like everyone else I dashed to the souvenir shops and finally managed to check-in the departure gate.

Soon I realised that I had lost my luggage label folded inside my passport. It must have been fallen somewhere but I didn't have time to get back. I talked to a lady at the FINNAIR counter and she helped me instantly. She said that happened very often and wrote the luggage number on back of my boarding pass. Easy. (After all, nobody asked me to hand the label or show the number at the destination)

The airport lounge was crowded. And as always, only the crowd at the airport did not annoy me. It might be due to the traveler's common sympathy or of the comfortable and spacy looks of the Helsinki airport.

On the flight I sat next to a charming lady who traveled with her parents. We talked about a lot about each travel, job, family, in-flight movie and meals. We looked at the gorgeous sunset and beautiful moon and stars. Her parents were such a nice people and we spent some time together after landing. Her whole family are barbers. I've only heard that the father's shop has a very historical background. I sent a thank you card to the shop. Soon the father sent me back a cordial letter. I don't know if I would ever see them again, but I am so thankful to the happy encounter which spiced up my journey at the last minutes.

184 RGRL#8 Day and Night

At daytime what I most enjoyed was the quietness and refreshing solitude. It seems people naturally shall become independent and stable in a nation where severe nature always tests you. It was a strong feeling of being on your own. Architectures calmly exist in every functional way as they are expected to be. 

At the dusk the city turns brilliant under the deep blue sky. Getting colder, but the street are lit by cheerful brightness from building windows and street lamps, and from the harbor. People gather to dine out without shrinking from the chilly air. The mighty light was imprinted on my mind.

183 RGRL#7 Design in Life

Artek, might be a standard interior shop in such a design-minded nation as Finland. But it made me excited at the moment I looked into the place from outside window. They have chairs and tables and lightings, and I can't find anything else special which helps me to describe why I was in such a joy just walking around simple furnitures. I felt what the good design could deliver to human mind. It was a peace of mind, a stability, an imagination, a delight, a nourishment, a wisdom, an order, a concord, and a happiness. 

Later, after I got back from my journey I had an opportunity to talk with a lady who owned a design management firm in Helsinki and introduced the coming WORLD DESIGN CAPITAL HELSINKI 2012. When she said "design in life is all about attitude" I almost gave a cheer to her. When I talked to her that I believe design gives us intelligence and power, perhaps my mind was on the moment among the tables and chairs in Helsinki.

Let me quote the statement of WDCH;

"We are open. For us, openness equals transparency, global responsibility and innovation. Usability, sustainability and desirability. That is what we are looking for. We design for a better life."

182 RGRL#6 Aalto House

I was extremely lucky to be an only guest at Aalto House when I visited. It was a warm sunny afternoon and a perfect moment to soak myself into a nice place of one of the greatest modernist architects in 20th century. I think it's wise to truly describe the experience through not my sentiment, but the simple words of a man who guided the house.

"This is a place used to work, to meet clients and friends, and to live with his family. Aalto liked the place because he loved the natural scenery around the house. When he worked he sat on the corner desk and saw his staffs and puplis working nearby."

"See, his desk has quite a nice view of the white birch woods, because he was the boss."

"There is a sliding door dividing the workplace and the reception room, furnished with tables and sofas, vases and bookshelf ... all designed by his wife. The room welcomed clients and many artists and architects of the era. The picture was drawn and sent as a gift from Le Corbusier."

"That is a mezzanine floor and you see it is now a small library. It was originally planned to be his workroom but finally it turned out that the  window didn't shed enough light into the place. Even so it remains a nice cozy place."

"The dining room was almost totally created by his wife. She also was working as a designer so I guess she hadn't much time to do houseworks, but here, she set a fantastic drawer ... it could be used convertibly, means, you can open the drawer both from the dining room and from the kitchen."

"The second floor is solely for his family's private life. Oh, here's a good sunshine now. This is a family's living room and around here, there are four rooms, and bathroom. The guest room is above the stairs and so, the bed is unusually high because it has to be to cover the space for the ceiling of stairs. Maybe some guests were fallen from the bed in their sleep? Oh yes it might happen. In the bathroom and the corridor you see there has a round window in the ceiling to let the sunshine into the room. Top light."

"At the terrace Aalto enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the fields and the sea. The trees has grown so much and you coudn't see the seashore anymore. The house was built more than 60 years ago and the view was different. It was the surburbs of Helsinki and there was nothing special. Now this is an exclusive residential distirct. Well yes, you could say that Aalto had a good judge."

"When he was annoyed by the noise of workplace he used to escape and sit by the window of his private room to continue thinking and designing."

"Back in few decades a family had lived on the second floor and changed the rooms a bit. Later the city of Helsinki obtained the house to restore the furnitures and banned any little changes from the original including the color and materials. It's like giving intellectual property right to the interior design of the private house. It's so unusual."

"Visitors here are usually a professional architects and students. They asked about like structures and materials ... professional questions. In the summertime this place is crowded with 20 people in one roundtrip. You were so lucky to see everything you want and take photographs as many as you can."

Yes, I was totally lucky and happy to spend nice and quiet time there. It was such a serendipity.

181 RGRL#5 Rain

On flight to Helsinki I watched Woddy Allen's "Midnight in Paris". At the start and end of the story it declares "When it rains Paris is much more beautiful---" or something like that. Talking about weather to me sunshine is always better except for snowfall. But yes, rain makes a city beautiful sometimes.

I've heard Helsinki in October they have much rain. It did but it didn't matter at all. In the daytime it makes red and yellow ivy leaves in Suomenlinna (the World Heritage Finnish fortress) look so unforgettably colorful. At dusk in the heart of Helsinki rain turns the street even brighter and gorgeous.

Sudden rain makes people meet. I took a shelter from evening shower and ran into the brand-new music hall. A man was with his babychild in a buggy sitting next to me. I asked him if he and his baby were waiting for mum. He said he was waiting for rain to stop, as well as me. We had a nice conversation for a while. We talked about his baby Onni (in Finnish "good luck""good fortune" he said), about weather, life in Helsinki, work, vacation and a plan for winter vacation. He said he was going to marry a women who is the mother of the baby on the New Year's Eve. I congratulated and wished his family best luck. He wished me a good journey. Rain gave me another good memory of the city.

After all rain will bring sunshine no matter what happens.