We were in a hurry. Since all the Finland-Sweden ferries
now have to stop at Mariehamn to maintain their tax-free rights, they also
have to leave a few hours earlier, and what had previously been a leisurely
drive turned into an endurance marathon -- 10 hours on the road with a
single half-hour break.
Not that I, personally, minded much: I had jumped ship onto the second
bus and spent most of the day talking with Julle, the driver of Entropy's
1997 Love Parade trip, who has spent most of his 42 years traveling
and can always spin out a story in any of the 8 or so languages he speaks
fluently. Most of the rest of the bus was so comatose that they didn't
even notice when the incessant techno pounding actually stopped for half
an hour or so, with group leader Hakki setting an example by sleeping with
his eyes open.
We
got to the port all of 45 minutes before departure and trundled on board.
The ferries just kept on getting better and better, as now we were on m/s
Silja Symphony, a 13-story floating luxury hotel and the pride of Silja's
fleet. The promenade on the 7th floor has to be seen to be believed!
Unfortunately, the prices on board were set to match the opulence, with
meatballs and mashed potatoes setting me back 42 FIM (4x what I would pay
for the same fare at a student cafeteria). Fortunately the tax-free
shop was selling Kopparberg's delectable pear cider for a mere 9 FIM per
can, so the evening was saved.
As
night approached people started to equip themselves and eventually gathered
out in the stairway, waiting for 23:30 and the opening of the Starlight
Night Club (ooh). An anonymous Mr. Oizo fan had bought a life-size
Flat Eric stuffed toy, so it was time to initiate the fuzzy yellow critter
into partying the Entropy way. Poor thing, within minutes he (it?)
was passed out on the floor...
Soon
enough the magic moment arrived and crowds of entropists stormed, or at
least staggered to the disco. The original plan was to sit down at
the edge of the dance floor until we got our own DJs spinning, but the
ship's DJ cleverly spoiled the plan by playing techno all by himself!
And yes, one of the tracks was "Flat Beat", which rejuvenated poor Eric
quite remarkably. But soon our very own DJ Nemo appeared, carrying
a big box of vinyl, and whispered into the DJ's ear. Permission was
granted -- Entropy had taken over again! 100 people stormed the half-empty
dancefloor and started bouncing like absolute maniacs. Nemo started off
nice and easy, but soon cranked up the speed, culminating in the
most wicked tracks I've ever heard played in a ship's disco... as
an increasingly grumpy-looking DJ looked on. Eventually he decided
that enough was enough, so he reconquered the turntables and whoosh, the
floor emptied. Unfortunately, he resolutely refused to take the hint
and kept on playing music that was less and less techno, culminating in
nothing less than the Village People's "YMCA". Aaaaaaaaiiiiggghh!
The routed masses fled in disarray and I succumbed to the simple pleasure
of sleep.
Baïda, khsarti li hyati ah
ana goul lik barkani
ma ala balich beli qedam
bane laabek, ça y est c'est trop tard
|
| Dateline: |
Wednesday 14.7.1999 |
| Location: |
Sitting at the computer, Espoo, Finland |
The
ship arrived in Helsinki in the morning. I dragged myself out of
bed in time to catch the bus, which drove straight through the all-too-familiar
landscape of central Helsinki to deposit its load of groggy passangers
right on the steps of the Eduskunta (the Finnish House of Parliament).
A security guard glanced at us as we unloaded a cargo of 4 turntables,
2 mixers, speakers, amplifiers, portable generators etc, but didn't even
bother to come up to us and ask what was going on. (In the States,
a similar group appearing in front of Congress would probably be machine-gunned
down in approximately 12 seconds.) Everybody else left, but I stayed
behind to guard the valuable gear until someone could come and pick it
up. I ate a healthy and complete breakfast of a melted chocolate
bar scavenged during the bus cleaning operation, washed it down with a
warm can of Red Energy and revelled in the coolness of a Finnish heat wave.
Birds chirped, the air was clean and occasional tourists tiptoed up and
down the steps.
Eventually Sampo arrived and we loaded all the junk onto his pickup
truck. We drove to Otaniemi and proceeded to once more move everything
into Sasu's apartment (the 4.1 kW generator is just tons of fun to lug
around, especially up several flights of steps). Of the 100 people
aboard Entropy's two buses, only us three remained, each of us a former
or current chairman of Entropy. Coincidence? The key to my
own apartment was hidden somewhere in the apartment, but nobody quite knew
where. Sasu left for his summer job in Tammisaari and I crashed on
his nice comfy bed.
Evening came, my flatmate returned home and a very weary Jani trundled
in. I dumped my crap on the floor and put some nice, relaxing, brainless
gabber in the stereo. Phase JO was over and I was home again.
