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One of the subtleties of living in a small town is the short distances. If I'm going to a movie that starts at 7 p.m., I take off by car at 6:45 p.m., park 10 m from the movie theater and that's it. Last time I went to a hairdresser where my time was at 2:30 pm. I left home at 2pm, went first to the pharmacy (where I queued for 5 minutes), then the flower shop to buy nutrient sticks and chat about using them, and returned a couple of books to the library. Made it in good time to the hairdresser.
When our three daughters were teenagers, they went about all their hobbies on their own, biking or walking. My husband, who was the CEO of a company, was usually home by 4:10 p.m. We found that we had much more free time than our friends who stayed in Helsinki when we moved to Hanko. I can fully endorse the slogan of a local real estate agent: A life from which you don't have to take a break from.
I remember one summer when I was still working as an adult educator in another city. June began hot, and my vacation wasn't due until August. I was sure summer could not last that long, and I took it as a project to try to find a holiday mood even when if I was working. Every day after work and commuting, I looked for a sense of holiday. I usually went to Hanko's East Harbour, Finland's largest tourist marina, to a terrace. I heard many different languages, the flags of different countries fluttered on the flagpoles of the port, the terraces were full of people, the sea sparkled and the sun shone. It sure worked.
Sometimes I walked across the road to the nearest beach (Hanko has 30km of sandy beaches), dug my toes into the sand and listened to the sounds of the beach -- the squeals of children and seagulls, the lapping of sea waves, the buzzing of trees, the knocking of tennis balls and the scores of mini-golfers. This was exactly what I wanted —a holiday feeling in one minute. And it didn't cost anything.
These days I enjoy swimming in the sea every day, 365 days a year. In Hanko there is an absolutely excellent place, a swimming cabin called "Simmis" with dressing rooms for men and women, a terrace and heated stairs to the sea. And a pump keeps the ice away in winter. Cold water is like a drug — it takes away stress, worries, and my friend's rheumatic pains. Expenses? The rent of the key to the cabin is less than thirty euros a year.
Canoeing has become such an important part of our lives that we can never move away from the seaside. No matter what a lottery win would bring, we would go on paddling. That's how addictive it is to have a hobby where doing it yourself is a pleasure and there are no goals. Besides, you've arrived the minute you sit in a canoe.
