Nature Calling

One of the odder bits of living in Finland is the predilection of the Finnish male to pretend their penis is a garden hose. Now, I don't know if this is just a guy thing, but it clearly cannot be a bladder size issue as I don't see women squatting on sidewalks or hiking a leg over a hedge. Pekka Suomalainen, mitä kuuluu?!

It's not a big deal, see, but when I'm walking down the street in the middle of the afternoon and some guy just whips it out to take a leak on a bush next to the Metro station [ which I know to have a loo ] I really have to work hard to not look, stare or giggle. One night we had dinner at the Nepalese restaurant next door. We left and I came back down with HB to take him for a walk when I noticed one of the people who was in the restaurant earlier had come out for a smoke and was peeing on our apartment building. He finished and went back into the restaurant which is also equipped with indoor plumbing.

So, I guess I'm used to only the homeless, a.k.a. residence challenged, presenting this kind of strange behaviour which leaves me at a loss to explain why it appears to be so popular here in Helsinki. Aside from the usual inconvenience of splashing on your shoes and pant legs, I have to wonder if there isn't some sort of deeply rooted from youth tradition of Finnish men eschewing the indoor plumbing for the thrill of the outdoors.

There's one nice thing about -20C Finnish winter weather...no exposed flesh :)