{"id":34,"date":"2010-07-24T20:42:44","date_gmt":"2010-07-24T20:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/borkurdotnet.com\/urbanvolcano\/?p=34"},"modified":"2025-04-19T17:40:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T17:40:40","slug":"what-is-the-traffic-like-in-finland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/what-is-the-traffic-like-in-finland\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the traffic like in Finland?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<aside class=\"other-formats\">Other formats: <a title=\"What is the traffic like in Finland? (PDF)\" href=\"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/ebooks\/en\/pdf\/what-is-the-traffic-like-in-finland.pdf\">PDF<\/a> | <a title=\"\u00bfC\u00f3mo es el tr\u00e1fico en Finlandia? (espa\u00f1ol)\" href=\"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/es\/como-es-el-trafico-en-finlandia\/\">espa\u00f1ol<\/a> | <a title=\"Hvernig er umfer\u00f0armenningin \u00ed Finnlandi? (\u00edslenska)\" href=\"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/is\/hvernig-er-umferdarmenningin-i-finnlandi\/\">\u00edslenska<\/a><\/aside>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/finland.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/finland.png?resize=300%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"What is the traffic like in Finland? \u2014 Illustration by Yana Volkovich\" class=\"wp-image-423\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/finland.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/finland.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/finland.png?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Illustration by Yana Volkovich<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>It was a bright and sunny July morning in Barcelona. The sky was blue and there wasn&#8217;t a cloud in sight. It was hot &#8212; unusually hot &#8212; but less humid than one would expect for an average July. It was no average July. It was July alright, but outside the mean. To some, it was mean outside &#8212; depending on the angle from which one looked at the weather. The city was quiet. The night owls had not yet woken up and the people who ventured outside moved around slowly in order not to exhaust themselves in the heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two men sat at a table on the terrace of a caf\u00e9 in Virreina square. They tried to combat the heat by drinking cold beer. Some readers might raise their eyebrows at the idea of drinking beer so early in the morning. As an experienced narrator, I can however testify that I have seen worse behavior, and in the case of those two young gentlemen I can promise the readers that they are decent gentlemen who will not be harmed by a beer or two &#8212; even at this early hour. One of the men was dark. He had dark hair, brown eyes, and uniformly tanned skin. Probably a local. The other &#8212; despite having eyes whose color perfectly matched the clear blue sky above &#8212; did not fit as well into the stereotypical Mediterranean scene. His hair was blond and his skin was white, with a slight hint of pink &#8212; most likely caused by the sun rather than the beer. One would have guessed he was Swedish or Norwegian. At least from a place considerably north of the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A car stopped in the middle of the street that ran along one side of the square. The driver shouted at one of the passers-by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c\u00a1Ostras, crack! \u00bfQu\u00e9 pasa?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The driver got out of the car, ran to the passer-by and hugged him. Apparently they knew each other and had not seen each other for a while. They were happy to see each other. The other drivers however, were not as happy with this encounter and started to honk their horns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c\u00a1Hombre! \u00bfQu\u00e9 pasa?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The driver stopped hugging the passer-by and shouted to the other drivers that he would be moving on in a minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c\u00a1Tranquilos! Continuar\u00e9 en un minuto.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The other drivers shouted insults back and continued honking their horns. The normally quiet square became noisy. Possibly waking up a night owl or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat is the traffic like in Finland?\u201d asked the man who one would guess was probably a local.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIceland?\u201d replied the blond who one would have guessed was either Swedish or Norwegian. \u201cDid you mean to ask what the traffic is like in Iceland?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYes, of course.\u201d The local looked surprised. \u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhy do you always say Finland?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t always say Finland. Why would I always say Finland?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t know. You just do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI most certainly do not,\u201d the local exclaimed and tried to look offended but due to bad acting skills he just looked silly. \u201cJust five minutes ago I said Greece. I don&#8217;t always say Finland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen I say always, I don&#8217;t mean always as in always,\u201d said the blond and hesitated for a while as if to think whether what he had just said had really been what he had meant to say. \u201cI mean, you always say Finland this and Finland that when you refer to my home country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDo I?\u201d asked the local looking genuinely surprised. No acting skills were needed this time. \u201cDid I say Finland just now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou said Finland just now,\u201d replied the blond and sighed. \u201cAnd yesterday. And last week. And the week before that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd the week before that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd the week before that!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t remember.\u201d The local looked unconvinced about the wild accusations made by the blond. \u201cDid I really say Finland?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYes, you really said Finland,\u201d replied the blond trying to sound slightly annoyed like some people get when answering repeatedly silly questions asked by children. Like the local, the blond wasn&#8217;t a good actor either. \u201cBut you are not the only one. For some reason, many people mistakenly call me Finnish even if they know very well that I am Icelandic. They also repeatedly talk about Finland this and Finland that. It is weird.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWeird indeed,\u201d the local replied and rubbed his chin as if he was thinking very hard about something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two men were silent for a moment and sipped their beer. Both of them looked as if they were thinking. The presumed local rubbing his chin, and the man who one would guess was either Swedish or Norwegian scratching his head. They both stared at their beer seemingly hoping the bubbles would bring some knowledge to the surface that could help them shed light on the weird situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The square was quiet again. The drivers had stopped honking their horns long ago. The driver and the passer-by had said their goodbyes and the traffic was not blocked anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAre you sure it isn&#8217;t you?\u201d the one that one would guess was a local asked suddenly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMe?\u201d the blond replied and raised his eyebrows as if he wanted to underline his incomprehension of the question. Again their acting skills let the men down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d replied the local. \u201cSince going on about Finland this and Finland that is not really restricted to me, but is a general trend, have you ever wondered whether it could be you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou mean that I hear Finland instead of Iceland?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWell, yes. That could be it &#8230;\u201d the local paused a bit before continuing. He did not look entirely convinced whether he should continue at all. \u201cOr it could be that you are really Finnish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNo, wait. I&#8217;m pretty sure I&#8217;m not Finnish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was another moment of silence that both men used to sip their beer in the hope they could consume some of the knowledge the bubbles might have brought to the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEver heard about the wisdom of crowds?\u201d the local asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe basic idea is that often an uninformed crowd can collectively be wiser than a single expert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo, &#8230;\u201d the blond hesitated for a while as if to comprehend the wisdom put forward by the local. \u201cYou are saying that since a crowd frequently refers to me as Finnish, I should question my own expertise in determining my own nationality?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is just a theory,\u201d the local said shrugging his shoulders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t think so,\u201d said the blond shaking his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWell. You are probably right,\u201d admitted the local with a frown &#8212; which turned quickly back into a smile as if he had been struck by a brilliant idea. \u201cMaybe it is probability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cProbability?\u201d the blond looked puzzled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d replied the local and looked excited about elaborating on his idea. \u201cPeople know that you are Nordic but not Scandinavian &#8212; in the Scandinavian Airlines sense of Scandinavian. If you put all non-Scandinavian Nordic people into a hat and draw one at random then you are much more likely to draw a Finn than an Icelandic person. Therefore, many people accidentally refer to you as Finnish. They can&#8217;t help it. It is just the law of probabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The man who one would have guessed was either Swedish or Norwegian shook his head in disbelief and stared at the local. The local stared back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHow long have we known each other?\u201d asked the blond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSix months,\u201d answered the local, and now it was his turn to look puzzled. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have known each other for six months and yet you still consider me to be just some random non-Scandinavian Nordic person drawn from a hat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWell, I didn&#8217;t mean it like that,\u201d the local replied, and his uniform tan went slightly red. He looked embarrassed. \u201cYou know what I meant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJa, ja,\u201d admitted the blond with an accent that one would only associate with someone from either Sweden or Norway. He smiled and seemed to know exactly what the local meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnyways, what is your answer?\u201d asked the local.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat was the question?\u201d asked the blond who had apparently forgotten the question that had originated the whole discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat is the traffic like in Finland?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"wp-block-group book-ad has-text-color has-background\" style=\"color:#000000;background-color:#65aab1\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:33% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"765\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/999Abroad_iPAD_FINAL_1873x1400.jpg?resize=765%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"999 Abroad \u2014 Cover by Ana Pi\u00f1eyro\" class=\"wp-image-1212 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/999Abroad_iPAD_FINAL_1873x1400.jpg?resize=765%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 765w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/999Abroad_iPAD_FINAL_1873x1400.jpg?resize=224%2C300&amp;ssl=1 224w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/999Abroad_iPAD_FINAL_1873x1400.jpg?resize=768%2C1027&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/999Abroad_iPAD_FINAL_1873x1400.jpg?resize=1148%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1148w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/999Abroad_iPAD_FINAL_1873x1400.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 765px) 100vw, 765px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">999 Abroad<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This short story appeared in the short story collection 999 Abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you enjoyed the story, we encourage you to support the publication by buying a copy of the book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>999 Abroad<\/em> is available as paperbacks from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/999-Abroad-B%C3%B6rkur-Sigurbj%C3%B6rnsson\/dp\/9935909530\">Amazon<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/999-abroad-b-rkur-sigurbj-rnsson\/1112757770\">Barnes and Noble<\/a> and e-books from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/999-Abroad-ebook\/dp\/B008OXZWZI\">Amazon Kindle Store<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/books.apple.com\/us\/book\/999-abroad\/id1397155625\">Apple Books<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/999-abroad\">Kobo<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.storytel.com\/in\/books\/999-abroad-2028500\">Storytel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also support the author through <a href=\"https:\/\/patreon.com\/UrbanVolcano\">Patreon<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/buymeacoffee.com\/borkur\">Buy Me a Coffee<\/a> or by rating the book on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/15821966-999-abroad\">Goodreads<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-horizontal is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-499968f5 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-text-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/999-abroad\/\" style=\"border-radius:50px;color:#ffffff;background-color:#000000\">book details<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A short story by B\u00f6rkur Sigurbj\u00f6rnsson. Sipping beer at a terrace caf\u00e9 in Virreina square in Barcelona, two men get into a discussion about one of the men&#8217;s perceived nationality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[8,73,9,66],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shortstories","tag-bars-cafes","tag-iceland","tag-public-spaces","tag-street-life","col-md-6 col-sm-6"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/finland.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2306,"href":"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions\/2306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanvolcano.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}