Nordic Dweeb Meet

The story begins...

Hmph. Travelling is interesting, and travelling with a french "car" is even more interesting especially when you are not aware of its quirks. (Read: not my own car)

Well, left Oulu 0830 local time and headed to Kauhava to drop some computer HW to Jamos kid brother. Visaman slept, he had been working (he is a safety guard, kinda-Securitas-nisse :) the previous night. 80kms after Kauhava I noticed that the blinkers quitted working, and when I used windshield-wipers the oil pressure gauge dropped from 4kp/m2 to less than 2kp/m2. WTF? A few minutes more and the whole car stopped. "No electricite', monsieur!" Todays diesels stop running when no 12V left, there is a magnetic valve which cuts the fuel to the injection pump. (too bad)

The fscking generator had had it. Well, 6 hours left and 400+ km's to go. I dont generally appreciate other than german and swedish cars. (Volvo it is. -lart- be quiet. <-- a SAAB-owner) Too bad that I cannot blame this Bosch generator wear-out (coal-brushes) failure on Citroen even if I'd _love_ to :-)

Well, a helpful co-motorist stopped to ask "Probs?" "Cc!" Luckily the the baton-bag for a car was equipped with jumpstart-cables and we charged the battery for 10 mins. I pulled the connectors to headlights (only way to work around the idiotic lights-automation) to save power and to be able to drive using parking lights only.

The next 300kms went OK. If you do not count the nerve-wrecking effect of the other motorist's friendly high-beam blinking on the minus side :) 8 of 10 tries to tell me that "hey, you're on parking lights, turn the headlights on!" Shit! It _IS_ irritating when you know that "Yes, thank you, I know am on p-lights. I have no options left."

Getting electricity injected a few times the as trip continues, we arrive to Helsinki, 15 minutes left. Hectic GSM-calls to the other guys at Viking terminal, we are going to make it! Then, red lights, stopping, engine quits. Rocketing bloodpressure, anger, X-treme frustration!!!

We push the car to the sidewalk in rage, lock the doors and grab a taxi. We make it after all, thanks to the effective delaying tactics used by the mates at the terminal :-) ... On board --> sauna --> booze --> Vman's anti-dinner --> blackout --> Stockholm

Stockholm, sweet Stockholm...

-Save- ferrying folks to McDonalds Slussen, (thanks for the ride!) --> Tunnel-banan :) to the Univ. area (a yellow thing moving fast under the ground, what is it?)

Stef was briefed what "hakkapeliitta" means (when he hears/sees conversation in finnish, he votes "Hakkapelitta!" Good choice :) (Hakkapeliitta=finnish cavalry soldier in 30-year war (when f-land was still a part of Sweden), the name came from their battle-cry 'Hakkaa päälle' which translates roughly to "beat 'em down".)

Naturhistoriska Musee't, IMAX-movie, worth the price, T-banan to somewhere, long walk to an Irish pub, beer! Conversation! --> Taxi to V-terminal, paying our share of the trip to Aple in FMK's :) Later, I was able to tell a joke in mixed EN/SWE lang to the Swedes and they politely laughed at it :-) (Toyota domkraft!)

Departing from Stockholm

Neither is Stocholm-part too detailed, nor the cruise back. One guy made the news: Saams. He got laid, which is always big news on Icebreakers mailinglist. :-)

The note he left on his bunk when he vanished tells it all: Caused by a sum of unfortunate co-incidences I moved away. You guys are ugly and you smell bad. [1.] Hajotkaa. P.S. I am in cabin 48#"/&% NO CARRIER". [1]Finnish word "hajotkaa" = "do fall in pieces" = (Fi) military slang to tell others that "my situation is so much better than yours that you are never able to get to the same level! Suffer!"

I was kind of proud of myself after choosing the "eat yourself unconscious" -option on board Viking Mariella, instead of having the usual "drink yourself unconscious" -option :) Next morning is a _lot_ easier!

Back in Finland...

Sunday morning, after arriving to Helsinki, I was luckily able to contact Stubit (thanks to cell-phones, again) who came to rescue! He hauled us (vman, saams, neck) to the baton-bag of a car, gave us power for 10 minutes, and off we went. Stubit drove back to Viking-terminal to haul the Swedes around the Helsinki area.

Side note: The included pictures have in fact a very little to do with the actual story above and below since they were mostly taken when we were visiting the aeronautical museum of Helsinki and then doing some sightseeing rounds in town. Anyway, pics make any story look merrier so whadda heck... Check also the other pics: Dweebs next to a jet simulator and highly honorable CO at hangover (this picture got to the finals of Squad Mate of the Month contest).

No probs in the first 200km's, we dropped Saams to his place and drove away. Still no generator. 100kms to north from Tammerfors we had to buy more diesel, and we got a hint from the clerk that "a place where they do have spare parts is open" and it is only 300m's away. Holy! They had the coal-brushes/regulator-thingy to a generic Bosch generator (140 FMK's) and we changed that it. POWER to the people! PRAISE THE ELECTRICITY! You do not know what U are missing unless U have tried to cope without it. Amen.

The way home: Nothing special. But: while I was sleeping, I was awakened by heavy cursing and G-forces...Vman did hit the brakes! And for a reason. All lights vanished at once. Luckily there were no-one in our 6, and once again cell-phones came to rescue. I asked the car owner "why did _all_ lights quit at once?" "Eh, there is a new relay AND a fuse....(position given)"

Some idiot had connected the lights again, and had used a lot of stupidity while making connections. You simply _do_ not connect all car lights behind one fscking fuse! Found the fuse, threw it away (and its case) and stripped the wires, twisting 'em together. Slept again for the rest of the trip.

Arrived home alive. Un-fscking-believable!