It was a hard morning for Pekka. The alarm was on at 6.50 AM. It was time to let Rauha sleep once one hour longer and make the breakfast. It went well, no one complainet about the porridge. Pekka was still remembering the Märketskallan trip last night with the little red dinghy:
”There I was alone in the middle of the borderless sea. The big ships´ diesel engines were mourning some 3-4 kilometres away. As I rowed I saw Märket all the time in my eyes getting further and further. The sea was quite still – otherwise I wouldn´t have been there. I finally arrived on the shore of Märketskallan. I pulled the dinghy to the cliffs making sure the waves don´t take it. I climbed the two three metres which was the top of the Märketskallan. It was maybe a rock of 0.5 hectares with two beautiful lagoons. The rock was blacker than on Märket and there were not whatsoever vegetation except yellow lishen like on Märket. The scenery was beautiful and scary at the same time. It was easy to understand that this is a paradise for seals in the summer. Around me there where tens of ship wrecks in the deep darkness – and a graveyard of many sailors. I made a call to Helsinki and sent my greetings from Sweden. Then I rushed to the dinghy and pushed my way back to Märket – yes, pushed backwards to see Märket on the sunset as the last rays of the sun reached Märkets buildings. Just before I arrived there the light on the top of the lighthouse started to blink. I recommend this trip for every Märket lover whenever the weather allows it”, finished Pekka.
OK, back to work. Alpo was ready already in the morning for the casting of the bridge and got Pekka as an assistant again. It went well. After that Alpo built the third ”rack” for the concrete and in the afternoon they did the third cast. The fourth will be left for next shifts.
Tuomas had a nice job for the ladies. They started to paint the new poles that were welded in Tampere during the winter. These 20 poles will form the new Danger zone fence on the scarp around Lilla Märket. Security before everything else.
Tuomas himself worked with the mast of the wind power turbine.
The sea was still gentle and the shore got whiter and whiter as no waves were rolling over them. The morning was very warm, but northern wind made the air chilly in the afternoon.
After the heavy work it was time to settle down in the kitchen for diaries and communication. Märket´s kitchen is a real communication center. It is still the only place in the house where You can get contact to mainland – nearly always.
Rauha was still busy. She was prepairing us First of May delicatesses like potato-pickle-onion salad with mayonese. This is a typical Finnish First of May food. Normally people buy industrially made salad, but we were very lucky to get home made salad. As a dessert Rauha baked Finnish type of donouhs, much better than the American ones. As You can see from the photo, as a drink we had mysterious champagne, maybe they are leftovers from the wreck that was found last year on the Åland waters, the oldest champagne in the world... At least these bottles looked very tempting!
We will leave this island very early on Sunday morning, and therefore we will celebrate th First of May already 24 hours before than the other Finns. So Happy First of May!
The "Mayday" gang (Alpo, Pekka, Rauha, Seija and Tuomas)
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