Comes and goes

Snow came early this year.

Last Wednesday, we woke up to a scene of white. Temperatures had been near zero for a while now so the kids are already wearing winter gear. On this day, they switched from rubber galoshes to snow boots.

We love the snow. On the way to school, they talked about making snow balls, snow men, snow angels and hopefully some sledding too.

More snow fell that day but temperatures were rather warm. By warm, I meant 2 or 3ºC. The snow soon melted and we didn't have much left by Saturday.

It didn't matter anyway because the kids fell ill last weekend. Estelle started with a fever on Friday evening and then Jules on Sunday morning. The daycare centre has 3 confirmed cases of H1N1 by today, I'm told.

We went to the clinic this morning. My request to be tested was declined because apparently there is only one laboratory serving the Greater Capital region (meaning Helsinki and its nearby suburbs). It was expected to be swarmed with samples anyway so it seemed that only more severe cases will be tested.

Do we or do we not have the swine flu? Doesn't matter as long as we recover, the doctor advised.

We have 5 days left in Finland. The meteorological station has forecasted at least 10cm of snow by tomorrow morning. We still have a chance!