Floor
The
plastic floor had to be renewed. I decided to replace it with a genuine
parquet.
My
wife managed to install the parquet in one day. As I came back from
work, the floor was finished. It was lighter in colour than the previous
one. The atmosphere had changed, which made me realise that our furniture
actually fitted better with the old floor. I tried rearranging the
tables, chairs and cupboards, and it worked. The result was refreshingly
new. The hint of antiquity was there, but the impression was sunnier
and more spacious.
I
was a little worried about the bumps, though. The floor bulged up
to 30 cm at points, which made walking awkward, with a real danger
of stumbling. Luckily, Sari managed to press down some of the curves,
and we covered the rest of the humps with carpets and hid as many
as possible behind the furniture.
Around
that time Sari received a letter from Scotland. She was asked to come
to the harbour in order to meet Jim Kerr, the lead singer of Simple
Minds. Jim was about to arrive in Finland and wanted to invite her
to a party. Sari had dated him when she was younger. That was more
than 20 years ago but now there was a chance to meet again. I, too,
was welcome to accompany her. Even if I was jealous and somewhat suspicious,
I have to admit it was an interesting prospect: travelling to Scotland
and meeting famous people. And I remembered how much I had listened
to Simple Minds in the 1980s.
In
the boat we received an SMS from a friend of Sari: 'I'm queueing for
the tickets to the Simple Minds concert. There are at least 10,000
people here in front of me. You are so lucky. The queuening will take
the whole day...'
Jim
Kerr was no longer in the prime of his youth. By now he was a middle-aged
man. Using manoevres fitting to a rock star, he tried to look stylish,
keeping his grey hair up. The clothing was extravagant and he changed
his outfit throughout the day. First, a medieval king, then a Scottish
lord, and later in the afternoon a rocker with a black leather jacket
and red trousers.
Kerr
showed us his castle. This was a stony complex of buildings, with
large halls and narrow staircases. He took us to his studio and boasted,
'I can turn on the lights just like that and adjust the volume with
a remote control.' Loud music filled the hall. Songs changed in quick
succession, as he played guitar for a moment. The chords didn't sound
quite right.
In
the courtyard, the singer pointed the streets which he had named according
to his former girl friends. One of the streets was called 'Huttunen
Street'. There were dozens of other streets. I tried to recognize
the names, but I didn't spot any other familiar ones.
A
number of celebrities had been invited to the party in the evening.
Jennifer Lopez and two other Hollywood stars from the 1990s performed
a dance. J. Lo was dressed in a miniskirt that was so skimp that her
legs were clearly visible. The legs were not so thin any more. Time
had not been kind to her.
The
tabloid press was there, trying to come up with catchy headlines.
This was not so difficult. Jim had been hiding from the public eye
for more than ten years, and now he was suddenly back in the limelight.
During
those years Kerr had established himself as children's novelist. He
had written a book that was produced and illustrated with a huge budget.
The story was set in the Scottish coastline. The protagonist was a
ten-year-old prince, who had a great adventure in the Highlands and
the nearby islands. As I read the pages, I was not sure whether the
story was completely fictional or not.
