four wonders of Helsinki

Went to Helsinki, our windy, mixed-up, confident capital. On the west coast, where I'm from, the opinion of Helsinki is that it's "nice enough, but so in the middle of nowhere". In Helsinki, there are:

• A World Trade Center. Not nearly as fancy as the one in New York, which is of course a good thing because nobody would be able to pick it out from an aeroplane. But in the WTC, there are men in suits. The men in my own little city are all of the casual-style, earthy type. When I tire of these, I look for men in suits because they seem to be confident, cool, in control of life. So I bought a mug of Kenyan coffee in the ground floor cafe and sat there watching the men in suits and basked in the illusion that all must be well with the world if these people are running it.
• IKEA. Not one but two enormous megamarkets filled with everything you could possibly need in a home. When you are world-weary and a bit lost, there is a strange comfort in seeing beautiful, gleaming kitchens and alluringly cosy bedrooms - makes you realise that everything you need for happiness is a comfy bed and a kitchen table for your morning coffee. Of course, IKEA would like you to think you also need their quirky bedside lamp and striped table cloth. But I bravely withstood brainwashing and every clever marketing trick, and came home with only a couple of cutlery stands and a bright yellow icecube tray. Plus another feeling that all is well with the world.
• An allotment garden. Ten minutes from the city centre, a huge area of apple trees, roses, little potato plots and tiny cottages. And small creeks with old wooden rowing boats. I got dizzy from the fragrance of the blooming rowan trees and couldn't find my way back to civilisation. Not that I would have minded staying in this place that time forgot.

• Stuff. Stores with shelves upon shelves of fascinating, beautiful, irresistible stuff. I had managed to forget that the world holds things such as bookstores with more than one shelf of English books, clothes that are not from H&M or Anttila, cinemas with surround sound, wok bistros. And people like foreign dignitaries, Russian millionaires, backpackers and hippies.

Now I'm back in the backwater with my yellow icecube tray. And all is well with the world.