New stamps on sale

Yesterday, Posti released new stamps for sale.  As I send quite a lot of postcards as part of Postcrossing I'm always interested in new stamps.

A selection of the new stamps I bought.

Interestingly, all of the new stamps are second class (0,60€).  This is fine for sending mail within Finland but a first class stamp (0,75€) is needed to send a basic letter or postcard outside of the country.  This meant I had to buy a load of 5 and 10 cent stamps.  Not a problem in itself, but it makes me wonder how many people are going to buy second class stamps without realising it.

Until recently, second class mail wasn't really open to the public.  Second class mail had to be posted in person at a post office and in a minimum quantity of twenty pieces.  Soon Posti will allow single, second class mail items to be posted in post boxes (there are even new blue post boxes in some places along with the orange post boxes to help separate the first and second class mail).

However, I feel that by offering only second class stamps, Posti is attempting to make their work easier; after all, they can take longer sorting and delivering second class mail.  Of course, first class stamps are still available but if you want the nice new designs, you're out of luck.

Still, I am very happy with the new designs and it's good to see Posti embracing new and innovative ideas when it comes to stamps.  After all, we've had stamps with Braille, holograms, scented stamps, and customisable vegetable stamps that come with eyes, mouths and accessories to decorate how you like!  Maybe I should suggest a stamp which would just consist of a frame, with the rest of the space free to draw your own picture in.  What do you think?

Blood donation in Finland

The Finnish Red Cross Blood Service (Punainen Risti Veripalvelu) is responsible for blood donations in Finland.  They have centres across the country as well as mobile units where it is possible to donate blood.  The big screen in the centre of Jyväskylä (by the compass (kompassi)) has started to show the levels of donated blood, and I thought it would be good idea to bring attention to this.

Unfortunately I cannot donate blood - actually, permanently banned from giving blood - in Finland for two reasons.  The first reason is that anyone that has lived in the UK between 1980 and 1996 is banned from giving blood forever due to mad cow disease.  In the UK we can obviously donate blood, but I suppose that's because we're all so disease ridden that it can't hurt us any further.

The second reason I cannot donate blood is because I'm gay.  Yes, really, if you are male and have ever had sex with a man, even once in your life, you are forever banned from giving blood because of the supposed higher risk of HIV infections.  So while a person that has heterosexual sex with multiple partners all their life can donate blood, a man that either has sex with a man just once, or is in a committed relationship (one sex partner), they cannot donate.  Finland is not alone in adopting this policy, but people are still sometimes surprised to hear this.

Because I cannot donate blood in Finland, I encourage others to do so.  The website of the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service has all of the important information in English, including who can and cannot donate and details of the Jyväskylä donation centre.

Partial solar eclipse tomorrow

I know it's quite soon, but I only just heard about this.  Apparently tomorrow (January 4) there will be a partial solar eclipse visible in Finland.  Although Sweden will get the best view of the eclipse, here in Finland we will see it at its fullest at 10:50am.

Welcome to Inside Jyväskylä

Hello, and welcome to Inside Jyväskylä, a blog about Jyväskylä, Finland and an English guy who lives there. This blog will have news, information and useful articles about the city and about Finland in general with the aim of helping residents old and new as well as visitors and tourists. I'm also going to focus on aspects of life in Finland in general that aren't as well documented and discussed elsewhere; things such as practical issues, the real culture here, and all those little things you only pick up with time and experience.

I am keen on getting feedback on this blog to help me develop it, so please leave comments or send me messages. Your feedback will help shape the future of this blog and its content.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy getting inside Jyväskylä!