Living on the edge of darkness

I am living in Finland at the moment. The Finnish people have a natural tendency to paranoia, probably because of th occupation of the Swedes then the Russians. After being here for a while it rubs off on you (the paranoia) and you tend to blend into the bachground so as not to be noticed.

I was crossing the crossing point in the road (you know with the white stripes) no traffic for a couple of kilometres either way, and the lights on red, ok I started to cross when a voice bellowed at me(in Finnish) "Oh we cross against a red light do we. I stopped and looked to see a large man staring at me accusingly.

Now in Finland this could be an ordinary citizen taking the moral high ground, or a policeman. I better play on the safe side, I said in English "oh I'm sorry, there was no traffic so I decided to cross".

"It's against the law to proceed against a red light he bellowed (in perfect English, With that twang the Finnish have).

I began to get apprehensive, he sounded like a cop, and they can get you fined badly if they take against you.

I'm sorry sir, I have just come to Finland (been here three years) and I wasn't thinking, giving my best grovelling body language.

He looked at me,
his glare telling me what a stupid foreigner I was, Then fortunately one of his cronies came along, and he lost interest in the abject English figure waiting for the hand cuffs. and he wandered off with his friend.

I was still standing halfway across the road, and still not a vehicle in sight, I looked to see his attention was still diverted, and darted the rest of the way across and into a shop.

Quickly past the shop security and out the back entrance.

Yeh Finland is the land of the paranoiac, and I am becoming Finnish