From Helsinki With Love

What? No post since Pride - time to rectify that...

We kicked off our winter season in style by performing in Helsinki with Europe's youngest gay choir - Out 'n loud. While most Pinkies flew there directly to take in the best of Helsinki, some of us took the scenic route by flying to Tallinn and catching the ferry to Helsinki. From all accounts, the night before the show was one to remember with Pinkies exercising their vocal cords as only the Pinkies can - by singing all night in a karaoke bar (gay, of course).

The day of our concert (Sat 15 Sept)dawned wet, dull and cold. Our rehearsal reflect the weather with Mladen tearing his hair out as we were all flat. But as the day brightened to reveal a sunny blue sky, so did our voices so by the time of the show we were raring to go.

Our host choir provided the warm up act by performing in the first half. Stepping onto the stage to rapturous applause, we knew we were onto a winner. We kicked off with Fancies, and followed up with the classical section.

After a brief interlude of Nathalina and Carol provided the audience with an amusing take on a Brit learning a foreign language, the rest of the concert flowed effortlessly. "Love Song For A Vampire" hit new peaks and "This Woman's Work" was a treat especially for one of the Helsinki choir members who declared this his favourite song. "Abba Pink" brought the house down and we closed the event singing a joint song in Finnish with Out 'n loud (a song about ducks and being by the water). The audience was hugely appreciative and the reception we received was heart warming.

We trooped off to a bar-come-sauna afterwards for some entertainment. While some Pinkies warmed themselves in the sauna, others were dancing to the perpetual stream of Eurovision songs blasting from the speakers. As Adam said "...all the songs sound the same..."



However, Andrew F seemed to know every word to every song... What more could a Pinkie want except to go clubbing afterwards - so while Hercules was being explored by the men, DTM was being invaded by the women.

The next day found just Ben and Liang accompanying our single Finnish host Jaakko (hope I spelt this correctly) on the proposed city tour. I guess everyone else was just too tired or partied out... Later on, a number of bleary eyed Pinkies were seen at the airport checking in and waiting for their flights home.
We had enjoyed marvellous hospitality, experienced a Finnish sauna and tasted a Finnish sandwich (chemical) cake.

Thank you Nathalina for getting the ball rolling and thank you Tanya for completing the organisation. Roll on Paris...

PS. I mustn't forget to thank Lynne for her endless organisation energy, Mladen for conducting us fabulously, Michael for his tireless nimble fingers and Andy for his wonderful arrangements.