Trek to Tallinn
Hello from my home in Matinkylä! This is NordLetter #13, a weekly newsletter on living and walking in Finland. Previous editions can be found here.
There’s a calm, in sitting still, doing nothing. Seeing, but not saying anything. About it. Or anything else.
There’s a bench on a little hill overlooking the sea. We sat on that bench today. Not talking. Watching the birds diving into the water. The four ducks traversing on the water, in perfect symphony.
It was windy even before the ship set sail. On one side of the sun-deck on the top floor of the cruise, the sun shone bright. Before the ship set sail, it felt too warm. On the other side, there were benches in the shade. It felt like it was a good seat to get. So we did, while we waited for our friends to join us.
We were aboard the M/s Finlandia of the Eckero line. We were going to Tallinn to visit Old town and get a fridge magnet. Tallinn is a cruise ride away from Helsinki. We would catch the 9AM cruise to Tallinn and be back on the 6:30 PM one from Tallinn. We left home around 7:30 to get to Kamppi and then the #7 tram to West Harbour Terminal T2.
It was a warm sunny morning. Like mornings here are in summer. The sun had been out since 4. And hence the warmth we felt on the top of the ship. At 9 the ship set sail. And then it got cold!
We walked some 500 meters or so to reach old town. It felt like the whole of Tallinn port was being built up with new building under construction almost everywhere. We started seeing the red roofs of old town as we got closer.
Tallinn feels like walking inside a museum. Old buildings, with beautiful doors, wonderfully preserved in time. Old town is beautiful, clean. The roads are paved in stone, which makes it difficult to walk on, but would have been wonderful for the horse-drawn carriages back in the day! There were sidewalks which were better for pushing the baby's pram on.
We walked to the town square, stopping at a couple of churches on the way.
We ate lunch at Chakra, a restaurant that came well-reviewed and suggested by a friend who had been here earlier. It did not disappoint. Post lunch, we went back to Old town. This time toward the Kohtuotsa viewing platform. The views from the top of the red roofs and the ocean and the port in the distance was amazing.
We were nearing the end of the time we had for the trip. And so we walked back down through the streets of the old town. And in case you were wondering still, we did get that fridge magnet. Three of them in fact!
/techStuff
Makes some sense, given that DMA means Apple is a gate-keeper and has to think about how it brings new services. iPhone mirroring on the Mac can also be about Apple keeping Android out, in a way.
How Apple usually develops these features is like this:
- They create an internal API which only their internal app or setting can use it.
- They fix bugs and streamline the API.
- They create a public API which third parties can use.
An example of this is the new AirPods-like pairing experience for third parties.
Of course, there are people who think Apple is being spiteful. To me, it feels like something they have to do.
/reading
A small post about what programming is and how it evolves into software engineering.
Few posts around how teams can be organised in the distributed/hybrid workplace that we have today. Wondering if this makes sense in a services company. A personal user manual is where each member of the team can tell about a few things that are personal to them. What makes them tick. What makes them angry. How to give feedback, etc.
How to Rands is a practical example of a Personal User Manual.
I also started reading Cory Doctorow's Little Brother this week. I am enjoying it so far.
Until next week.