Excerpts from Local Newspaper

Source: www.kaleva.fi

The police had to chase a rooster in the market square. Apparently it's not enough that easter bunnies and chickens (made from toilet paper rolls etc by pre-school kids) are used for decorating the homes. Some one let a rooster loose on the market square.

The weather was warm, reaching +18C, the highest this spring. Combined with a lack of wind, the weather was very good for sitting outside and drinking beer. Some restaurants and pubs had queues for the tables outside.

Someone burned down their firewood shelter, but managed to save his house. He was 'scorching the earth', aka burning the last years grass to fertilize the soil and to accelerate the growth of new grass. Now is the best time to do that, as the old grass has dried and the new grass has not started to grow, so the new grass will not suffer from the fire. Dry grass burns fast, so be careful.

The city is lowering the speed limit on one road near the university from 60km/h to 50km/h. The reasons cited are improving safety and the several intersections on the short section of the road.  Readers comments so far vary from "it's good" to "it will create horrible traffic jams."

On a more sad note, at least five people have drowned in the last week. One of them was an adult, who was ice fishing on weak ice. One was a two year old, who fell into a rain well, because the manhole cover was not in place. The manhole cover is made of aluminum and is lightweight, so it was supposed to be bolted down. The police is investigating the case.

Two kids fell into a stream or river while playing outside. A third, 10 year old fell off a bridge and fell into the river below. Water is attractive to kids, and it's fun to build dams or poke at the chunks of ice or throw things into the stream. But this time of the year the water is near freezing, with the water level higher and the flow faster due to the melting snow. Four kids drowned in one week!