Sitting watching the rain fall must be a bit frustrating for all those further south especially as you are not so well used to it as we are. Combine is ready to go here and the neighbours have finished Winter barley a couple of days ago. We will not start for at least a month more probably 6 weeks.
I am spending the time trying to sort out the SRDP Rural Priorities. It has been a nightmare and it is not getting any better. We do at least now have applications in but the case officer who is dealing with one of them has vanished or at least becomes invisible when I call. We have already missed the first RPAC and I have grave doubts about getting to the second. That means no cash until 2010 at the earliest. The scheme will be over before anyone can get in at present rate. The whole thing is an over hyped underfunded shambles.
The holiday was a great relief and was enjoyed hugely by all of us. The one thing that did bother me though was the total lack of security at Helsinki International airport. Transit passengers are not separated from arrivals or departures. Luggage was swapped by passengers right in front of us with bags taken on other flights without investigation. I know they should have been checked at the original airport but it made my blood run cold. There is also no visible Police or security presence throughout the airport, vehicles can drive right up to places where very large numbers of people gather. The contrast to our local airport of Aberdeen where armed police are visible and security tight could not have been more stark. I am astonished the USA or anyone else for that matter allows direct flights from this disaster waiting to happen.