Mökki

A bit over a week ago we were enjoying a wonderful Finnish custom ? spending some free time in mökki. Mökki means summer cottage. I know it?s not summer yet, but? we were suddenly stroke with a wave of warm air (only -2C for several days) and according to some optimists the summer is nearly here! So why not to hang around in the woods?

I love the time spent there. It?s so simple, and I believe that?s where the beauty of those moments comes from. We sleep a lot, eat a lot and all the rest of the time is basically spent in sauna. In the evening we set fire in the chimney and sit in front of it reading books or just staring into the fire (occasionally grilling some sausages too). Nothing more, nothing less. Simplicity, it makes you forget everyday worries.

It always makes me wonder how slow the time goes there. It?s like with a touch of magic wound the time suddenly slows down. You literally sense it oozing through the windows into the cottage. We have so unexpectedly much time there. It feels like acting in a slowed motion movie. The atmosphere is so dense with time that you consider taking a handful of it and putting to your pocket to store for some busy days.

Mökki is just 60km away from the hectic capital, but whenever we go there, it seems like we move back in time. The cottage itself is made of huge wooden logs. It sits on the granite rock which descends into the Baltic Sea bay. And silence? It?s actually THE SILENCE, with capital letters. Don?t know how it?s possible but the silence is so great that it hurts. Living in the city, we are so used to the background noise, that our cochlear cells are really in shock once there. I suspect that they try to do their job well and try to grasp tiniest sound vibes, then after several hours finally give up and allow themselves small holidays as well.

I like to think that indeed it is a kind of magical place, that mökki is somehow able to bend the spacetime. Yes, it is wishful thinking and deep down I know the reason why spending free time feels so different there. The answer is simple ? no TV, no Internet. I always realise there how much time we waste on senseless staring into screens. And I always try to tell myself that from now on I will use my free time more wisely. But just as soon as we close the doors and start our car to leave mökki I know I won?t keep to those promises. I just can?t, no matter how much I try. And this moment, when you realise you will again let the precious time go through your fingers instead of grabbing it and not letting it go, is always the saddest part.