Last March just the night before moving to temporary lodgings my exercise bike broke. It probably could have been fixed, but under the circumstances I dumped it. I thought I'd buy a rowing machine when I returned home, but it took me more than six months to finally decide to do it, and yesterday I could fetch it from the post office. The shop website said the machine's weight was just 24 kg, and I thought I could take it home by myself on the metro. It turned out to be a slight miscalculation. With the package the total weight was 28.4 kg, but I did get it home in 30 minutes, with the help of two women and four men who at different stages of the way helped me in various ways. Altogether the walking - dragging - distance must have been about a kilometre (including the metrostations).

And once home, I started unpacking and assembling, which went quite well. There was just one mistake in the instructions, involving the support frame, support frame cover, rail and a hex bolt, but it was easy to see the right - the only - way of putting these together. Finally when it was done, there was only one flat washer left over, and no part had been missing! In just two hours I could take the packing materials out to their respective bins, and flop on the sofa to watch Nigella Lawson cook.

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It's extremely unlikely that any of my helpers read this, but anyhow I extend my thanks to all who helped me on the way, and especially the two men who carried the box for the last 200 metres. I have always believed that in Finland you never get any help from strangers (unless you're a mother with a pram trying to get on a bus), but yesterday I was proven wrong. Thank you!