Finnish from Afar Blog

Let's face it, if learning Finnish was graded like judo, I would still be a white belt. This despite years of training with an excell...

Apparently, the Finnish word for "meerkat" is "nelisormimangusti", or "four-fingered mongoose". Well, well...

The first time I saw him was on a warm summer's evening in Helsinki. He was standing near the parliament, patiently waiting for the tr...

Finnish men can't dance. Fact. OK, OK, I admit: like most things I write about in this blog, I don't really know what I am talkin...

In the past couple of weeks, my social media inlets [is that the word for the SoMe equivalent of an inbox?] seem to have been filled with a...

Finns are rightly proud of their long tradition of perseverance in the face of overwhelming challenges. This courage and determination is ...

This week, the winter returned with a vengeance in the UK. Temperatures have plummeted, and the weather forecasters are getting ready to r...

New Year's celebrations are over for another year. And so is the broadcast on TV of one of the most successful piece of British comed...

There are two things I bring back from Finland on a regular basis. There's the amazing Fazer chocolates – no surprise there. And there...