Hello September, you are most welcome!
If August was a roller-coaster of a big work load, mishaps and a budding feeling of change, then September feels like contentment and joy. Yet, my post this time starts out in a different direction.
On the 1st of September had my mother been alive, she would have turned 100 years. What could have been more fitting then than celebrating the end of summer (well not quite since summer seems to continue) and the beginning of autumn (at least here in the Nordic countries) in my mother´s home town. A town that celebrated it´s 150 year anniversary with a two day-festival and a magnificent fire work show as the grande finale.
My mum was born in 1924 and had the most happy and joyfilled childhood possible with her two younger siblings up until her dad died when she was about ten. About five years later the Soviet Union started a war against Finland and, then despite hard and desperate efforts Finland lost Hanko to the Russians.
Hanko (Hangö in Swedish) is a small town situated as far west as possible in the southern part of Finland. Very popular in the late nineteenth century among British and Russian bourgeois as a spa resort with it´s beautiful casino, long beaches with the very particular beach huts, a spa, tennis courts and a lively social life.
I guess for the British, coming to Hanko instead of going to Bath was a bit more exotic and yet not that different perhaps - only smaller.
My dad was born in 1920 in the most eastern part of Finland, in Viborg. A thriving metropolitan city with a mix of different cultures and languages. Pretty much the same fate for my dad as for my mum. He hade the most happy joyfilled childhood possible together with his younger sister and a heap of cousins and their dog Halli.
Wintertime the family lived in the city in a grand apartment while summer´s were spent at their villa in the archipelago. You could easily say that my background is as bourgois as it gets. My mother´s dad was a colonel, my parternal grand dad a lawyer with his own firm.
You will also find a lot of priests among my ancester´s on both sides. Digging deeper however going back to the 16th century and the beginnings are much more humble.
While my mum with the rest of the inhabitants in her home town had ten days to pack all their things and leave, my dad´s family only had a couple of hours after the Russians invaded Viborg.
There is so much more to be said about all of this, but I´ll leave it for now and will continue another time. Finland got Hanko back in the end, but lost Viborg for ever.
One of the highlights of August was a visit to this place:
Somehow August flew past without me having written a single post on Substack. I could not muster up any energy to write even a single post.
Thank´s to Hannah Ashes Creative Ensemble I did succeed in brushing up my about page. It´s more done than half baked but I still would like to shorten it a bit. A challenge as good as any for someone who has loved written lenghty texts her whole life. Short and and snappy is really not my thing.
Please give me a ❤ if you enjoy my writing. If you want to comment, it will make me even happier 😊
Your writing is wonderful. Go for it — write that Novel. Happy 100 to your Mama.
I really enjoyed reading about your family history and about Finland. My sister in law is Finnish so I love to learn about the culture, country and people. Lovely to read you again and I can't wait to hear about your story.