"This quiet life has its up sides." -Seppo

"The important thing is of course that you stay healthy, you could travel every now and then somewhere and… see the grandchildren grow." -Raija

Raija and Seppo have lived in Sampola neighbourhood since 1974. At first their home was in another section of the same block of flats, but as the family grew they moved in a bigger flat where they have now lived for the last 30 years.

Seppo used to be a youth leader and Raija did her career in the Outokumpu procurement office. Now they are both retired. They have two adult children, a son and a daughter, who also has children of her own. Grandparenting is an important part of life for Raija and Seppo. Grandchildren are present in their everyday lives.

Raija and Seppo spend their days with their grandchildren, but they also travel. Raija and Seppo balance out their urban lives during the summer when they live in Raija's old homestead in Ulvila.

Wednesday 2 February 2011

Raija woke up before Seppo, prepared the coffee and made herself a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave. While she conducted her morning routines she started the washing machine and prepared a sweet dough. The cinnamon rolls would be ready in time for the visit of their daughter Päivi and her children Anton and Joonas.

Seppo woke up a little later and he, too, prepared a bowl of microwave oatmeal. Raija had already flicked through the morning paper and now Seppo could have it. The main news in the paper today was the riots in Egypt. The subject touched them, as Raija and Seppo had returned only two weeks ago from a vacation in Hurghada, Egypt. There had been some unrest at the time already, which had affected their holiday mood.

"So now afterwards you think that we were lucky to get away, but it would have got a little frightening too if we had been there still a week later." –Raija

When Päivi and the children arrived, Anton immediately got a new car from Grandma and Grandad as a souvenir from Egypt. It was a short-lived joy; the toy made a noise that scared the boy and made him sulk.

Seppo prepared a potato and fish casserole for lunch and while the food was cooking they looked at photos from Egypt. Then they still had some time to play before the meal.

In the afternoon Raija and Seppo went to the grocery store. They usually do their shopping in the big Prisma store, where they can find all they need..

"Yeah it's that Prisma then, that's where we get all the potatoes and things, during the summer when we grow our own then we have them of course but. So we no longer go to the market place or the market hall except for something extra…" –Raija

After they returned home they had the intention to lie down and watch some afternoon TV. For some reason the television didn't work, so Seppo had to check what was wrong. Luckily the fault was easy to locate: the converter box's scart connector had come loose.

Late in the afternoon Raija left for her yoga class in Sampola shopping centre. They had a new, less cold room. She still needed the woolly socks and a warm tracksuit. Today they focused on neck and shoulder stretches. At the same time Seppo was preparing the next day's visit to Nummela; he went to refuel the car and check the oil levels. Tomorrow they would drive to close the deal on the house of Seppo's late sister. He also had to go through some papers they would need when making the deal.

The evening was spent watching television and they got to bed only quite late.

Thoughts about everyday life

"Yes there is one cultural difference here with transferred Karelians and native Satakunta people it's that the Karelians may just pop in without an invitation but then Satakunta people not really if they're not invited." - Seppo [Karelian background]

"We have these sort of yard parliaments here, that men at least hold these meetings of theirs, so that, we are on call about the things happening in the building, so it's almost that we go out there and have a chat in front of a garage, people gather up there, so that kind of communality we've had here in Sampola at least in our block from the beginning." –Raija

"Sauna sets a pace, on Tuesday it's a common sauna day, and on Saturday it's the family sauna day, so that they are the kind of, you automatically figure it out like, you're in a block of flats anyway so of course you have your sauna time, so you make sure you get to go to sauna. It's important." –Raija

"So I think when I retired, - so then I kind of hoarded all kinds of hobbies, so almost every day I had something, that it was probably a little like wanting to make up a rhythm like, but then it came back down to that normal amount." –Raija

"[In Lapland] you get to the fire and grill the sausages and make the coffee and that every now and then, that's what has like, has struck me already back in the sixties." –Seppo