Red tape and icicles

From Around Helsinki Winter 08/09

This week is the Finnish skiing holiday - and apparently as we are having a 'good' winter (i.e snow on the ground) the sports shops have all sold out of their 'sale' skis. Even though there has not been a lot of snow fall in the last few weeks (in fact it even rained once) there has been white all around for at least a month now, and in the bright sunshine and clear skies of today it is quite lovely.  There are also lots of icicles hanging from gutters and eaves, although they tend to be quite hard to photograph (had to stand in the middle of a street to get this...)

I can now tick off another couple of things from my list of Finnish 'bureaucracy' that needed doing (maybe I should say 'official existence'), although I hope the latter is only temporary:

• I now (finally) am part of Kela (so have access to various social security and health care things)'
  
• I am officially registered unemployed (although fat lot of good that is as I don't seem to qualify for any benefits).

This is the first time I've ever been officially unemployed in the 20 years since I left school. Even in the last recession when I was on my 'year out' between degree and diploma in Brighton, and there was very little work around, I managed to find a few architectural things to do, making models and helping tutors with competitions mainly (and drawing layouts for caravan parks now I come to think of it!).  Mind you I also worked for a temp agency, which meant things like cleaning wards and toilets at a mental hospital; clearing tables and washing dishes at a department store restaurant; stewarding at football matches; moving office furniture etc. People were generally quite surprised to hear I had a degree in architecture.

I wonder what qualifications you need for clearing snow?