Kultapossu

From today on, I'm officially a real Finn ! And I'm wearing a new badge to proove it !

About two years ago, when I came to Helsinki during my Christmas holidays some months before moving here, I was offered a plastic light-reflecting teddy bear, like those children wear so that cars can see them when they cross a road in the dark. Some friend of a friend had a couple of spare ones and handed one to me. I refused, laughing; I thought it was some kind of a joke.

Last winter, I realised that I was wrong. People - and adults as well - do wear this kind of things. I soon noticed it's a very good safety device in winter, when days are so short you are often outside in the dark. As a driver, I could notice you really don't see people in the streets when they are dressed in dark clothes - and my own jacket is black. I therefore considered getting one of these light reflectors as well, but I couldn't find any "serious-looking" one; they seem to sell only silly figures, like stars, bears, stuff like that. It doesn't seem to bother anyone as a lot of people do wear them, but I couldn't help feeling the ridiculousness of it.

But now it's over. Mikko came back from a work symposium a few days ago with one of these, they were offered to all participants. All of them were very serious people, working in banks, gathered to discuss securities, bonds, and all kinds of very complicated financial matters. And they all received that stupid little light reflector which has the shape of... a pig - refering to a piggy bank, I guess. It completely changed my point of view: if a bunch of bankers can wear a pig on their sleeves here, so do I !

So let me introduce you to Kultapossu (Golden Pig), my new pet :)