May 1st, and there's still snow in our back garden (in fact it's still here now, and today's the 5th). It feels quite springlike though (the blue skies help, and leaf buds are starting to appear on the trees).

We've also had three barbecues in the last week, which is probably more than we had in all of last year. So far, sausages, frikadellen and koftas have been on the menu...here's the junior chef in action!

I get the feeling we may be turning Finnglish...

• We own 4 Moomin mugs, several rugs, and a Marimekko/Iittala glass bowl.
• We love skiing, skating, piima and rye bread. Karelian pies and munavoi produce shrieks of delight.
• We've grilled sausages in a grilli hut in the middle of the forest in the snow.
• It's normal to sit naked in the sauna with a bunch of strangers (at the swimming pool), or with friends.

Mind, there's still a few things we need to work on. Salmiakki is the work of the devil, and mammi is just plain weird. And it would be nice if spring came a little sooner...

Anyway, the final evidence comes with the fact that we bought a proper bbq today, for the first time ever (our last one cost 2.99 from Wilkinsons). Here's how it arrived:

With a bit of judicious screwdriver work (not from me, I might add, I was busy doing some gardening), it then looked like this:

Ta da! The final result:

Soon we'll be able to grill sausages to our heart's content on our back verandah. As soon as we've tracked down a gas bottle...