Ground Hog Day

Thin sharp clouds scuttle across the evening sky like little black islands in a turquoise sea. My gaze is drawn back to my more immediate surroundings. TV.

How many of us waste our time in front of the TV watching stuff we don't really need to nor really want to? Not many of the people I have met in Finland up until now - everyone is far too busy doing more important things.

If we miss something, even if it is something that we were looking forward to, would our lives be ruined for ever?

In terms of population, Finland is a small country of just under five and a half million people. Television is limited, by budgetary constraints I should imagine, but a lot of the programmes are foreign documentaries and films. These are always broadcast in the original language with Finnish subtitles which can be turned off and this is part of the reason quite often cited for being able to speak and understand English so well. (I guess they do watch TV some of the time).

We, as modern man, often find ourselves in an incessant cycle of mindless repetition day after day. Our own particular Ground Hog Day. We all have the ability to break this spiral but very often do nothing about it - it's easier to just carry on with what we know. We know there are so many things we could be doing but we often justify our weakness: "It's too late to start now", "It will take too long", "I'll never be able to learn another language", "I'll never have my dream body". If only we spent less time finding excuses and just got on with it, we could achieve so much.