This morning I went running despite the grey and foggy weather. I could barely see hundred metres in front of me and the sea didn't have any horizon. At one point, I could spot a few men emerging from the sea. Six men, each one around 20 metres from the next one, sitting on their little foldable chairs ice-fishing by the small hole in the ice. An absurd sight, or rather, what a curious hobby (an example on this equally curious Youtube video, the basic ice-fishing vocabulary includes, at least according to this video, "jumalauta" = fucking hell, "saatana"= damn, "vittu"=fuck, "kahden kilon siika"=2kg whitefish).
Visit Finland website writes: "At some point in their life, almost every Finn has sat by an ice hole, ice-fishing for perch, the national fish of Finland. Many have got such a bite on the end of their lines that this has kindled a lifelong spark for fishing." Honestly, I can't imagine what kind of a bite would get me to try out ice-fishing.
At the same time, ice-fishing reflects so well the Finnish solitary mentality (Visit Finland calls it "Finnish meditation"). While the elderly Italian signori gather around the fountain in the central piazza of the town to sip some aperitif together, the Finns take their lunch packs and enjoy their solitude in the cold and wind, alone on the ice. I wonder if my generation of men continues to do so - if the behaviour and mentality haven't changed, maybe there won't be any cold winters to practice ice-fishing in 30 years time in any case.
P.S. Five years ago in South America me and my friends complained about the ubiquitous reggaeton music. Yesterday, I went to a reggeaton dance class to shake the booty. My moves surely need some polishing, but the two guys on the class were just hopeless and not making any difference between hips or shoulders. However, I appreciated them trying out. Two men less going ice fishing...
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