HELSINKI, FINLAND

YESTERDAY

Yesterday was very quiet. It was a day for mostly thinking, and recovering from Russia.

I thought that visiting Helsinki before or after Russia would be a good idea. If before, you get to rest up for the intensity. And if you visited afterwards, like I did, Helsinki, laid back as it is, affords you the chance to come down slowly and softly.

For instance, I thought about that recurring dream I had the night before of a snake, somewhere within reach of my feet, in front of me. Once, during the dream, I tried to use both legs to smash its head. I was on my back, in the dream. I didn't hurt the snake and the snake didn't hurt me.

I thought that if I ever went to see a psychiatrist, I would ask two questions:

One - Why do I always fall in love with the prima ballerina in Swan Lake? They don't even look like my mother. Although my mother, when I was about nine or ten, did seem well acquainted with that look that said she knew tragedy. Maybe that's one of the things she got from dad.

Two - I would want to know if there was some significance to the fact that I often head out in public with my fly open. Am I trying to prove something?

I am also thinking of a conversation (email) that I have had with a valued friend. And I am thinking that the US government must have invented Teflon to coat its foreign policy. It has invaded about 179 countries (Note on 17 September): Don't quote me on that figure because I am not sure where I got it; maybe just gazing into the future). But for another take, you may refer to http://www.counterpunch.org/catalin09112004.html, Wars Against 74 Nations...and Counting -- An ABC of American InterventionsBy FRANCISC CATALIN)killed millions of people and still come up smelling like roses.

The Soviet Union, on the other hand, no friend of mine I should add, did invade a lot of countries, including Prague in the Spring of 1968. I wonder how many Czechs they killed! I know thousands fled. But fleeing is different from dying. At the moment, for example, it is estimated that the US has killed 37,000 civilians in Iraq. Repeat, CIVILIANS. Translated, that means, in American English, collateral damage.

Well, I figured it out yesterday: The U.S. government has concentrated a lot of its murder against Injuns, Niggers, Spooks, Ragheads and Hispanics. In other words, they haven't killing a bunch of white folks. And that makes a difference.

You get a bad rap killing "civilized folk" but you get to keep smelling sweet if you murder black folks, red folks, yellow folks. Take note, Putin.

OK, where was I? That much about takes care of yesterday, and I only have 15 minutes left to get to today. I am at this library.

TODAY

I got my butt out of bed much earlier this rainy morning.

I went around the corner, about two blocks, to take a photo of a sweater in the Puma Jamaican line of sportswear.

Then I went online for a moment, before shipping a box to the US. Two tee-shirts, sort of to keep things from moving around; one DVD; 48 CDs: one stamp album from Russia; one COLORS magazine on the theme of drugs. That takes a load off me, I can tell you. Several pounds off my back. But I will be keeping my fingers crossed until the box arrives in about 20 working days.

Then I took the No. 3T tram to the Temppeliaukio Church, a church carted into stone, with water running naturally on the granite stone. While looking for the church, I chatted with a Kenyan who had just earned his MBA. Lived in Brooklyn for a while. Has a job with Citibank in London. Now, I feel even better about my Citibank accounts.

Then I visited the Sibelius monument, in the process learning the proper pronunciation. It is not Sibelius as in "bee" but as in "bell".

Then I stopped at a book store. I saw this book, The Shameful Life of Salvador Dali, by Ian Gibson, for 25 euro. I asked the guy if he could give me for 20. He gave me for 15. So I bought Don't Get me Wrong by Peter Cheyney; and My Favorites in Suspense by Alfred Hitchkock.

So far so good. May visit an art museum or two.

Tomorrow, I take a ferry for Tallinn, Estonia. I could get there in one and a half hours, but I choose to get there in three. And I got a discount for being an old man. Now I know why I couldn't wait to grow up.

Patrick Barry Barr