Juhani Aho's first novel Rautatie, published in 1884, is a classic of Finnish literature. According to Wikipedia The central ingredients of the railway are the imaginations of small animals and both the differences between remote areas and prosperous frontiers, and the social gap between "gentlemen" and "folks". An important element in Finnish literature is the frequent uncontrolled use of alcohol as the initiator of a disastrous chain of events.
Can the significance of the railway be summed up any better? You can't, and even though it's been more than 130 years since Rautatie appeared, the situation is still the same. I just got a first-hand experience of this.
On Sunday morning, less than a week after the opening of the ring road, I already started driving before six o'clock. At Kivistö's shiny new station, a hipster in his twenties jumped onto the road, waving his arms. However, the guy was cool enough that I stopped and opened the window, thinking that he might be in trouble.
After this I had the following very absurd and memorable conversation with him.
The hipster opened the conversation.
- Hello. Where are you going? Would you like to ride for a while?
– To March. Where are you going?
– To Calahonda.
– To Calahonda? Where is it?
– Apartementos del Calahonda, 15 kilometers from Fuengirola in the direction of Marbella.
- Okay... You won't get there. It's in Spain.
- Yeah... Where are we then?
- In Finland.
- Oh come on, are we? How did I get here? I was on a trip to Spain for a week.
- Yaa-a. But you can get to Stadi by train. There are trains every 10 minutes.
- Oh, is that stop already in use?
- Yes, it has been in use for almost a week already. Just go there. It doesn't matter which way you go. You can get to the stadium in either direction.
- Okay, thanks.
...uncontrolled alcohol use as the initiator of a disastrous chain of events. I nail it.
The hipster, who was admittedly in a slightly moved state of mind, had a real problem. I guess he had jumped on the train at the end of a humid evening and woke up in a strange place... Not in Calahonda, where he imagined he was going, but in Kivistö, Vantaa.
With the ring road, Kivistö's sleepy detached house area has lost its virginity, becoming a part of urban life, which includes hipsters as well as the whole spectrum of society...
Next Friday, the housing fair opens in Kivistö. With the housing fair and the opening of the airport station, even fellow brothers and sisters who speak a foreign language will soon get lost in Kivistö. At the last moment, when I get to advise tourists in a foreign language to Calahonda or anywhere, I say with a smile that globalization has finally reached our little Vantaa birdhouse.
Paavo Syrjö
CEO
INFRA ry
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