Helena Halme's Blog (19)

I don't often write about politics on my blog, which may be a bit odd since I studied Political Science at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki. I don't do this because I think if I began, I'd never write about anything else ..!

But with Trump signing a ban on certain citizens from entering the United States, together with the Brexit vote here in the UK, I am so frightened that I have to say something about it all publicly.

So today I'm making an exception…

It's here again! The Crouch End Festival,  UK's largest community arts event, is now in its fifth year, and this, the 2016 festival will be bigger than ever.

There's everything from open air cinema, live music, art, poetry, food and even a Latino Day when Crouch End goes all Latin. Check out the programme of events between 10 - 19th June on the festival website here. Most of the events are FREE, so it's easy to take…

I am delighted to be taking part in this tea shop story festival. I will be reading from my forthcoming novella, The Finnish Girl, which is a prequel to The Englishman, the first book in my Nordic romance series.

I will also be talking a bit about how I use my own life for my fiction (and stay sane). There will be a question and answer session afterwards.

If you happen to be in London this Saturday, pop over to Queens Wood near Highgate for a…

The Navy Wife is now out on Kindle

I'm a local Crouch End author, and can often be seen out and about with my border terrier in Queen's Wood or Priory Park, or watching comedy Downstairs at The King's Head. When my first novel, The Englishman, came out, I stood at the bus stop and handed out leaflets and many of you lovely locals took a copy and I saw a spike in my sales. So, beware, I'll be there again soon handing out more leaflets, this time…

I rashly promised someone over on Facebook that I'd blog the recipes for my Finnish Christmas vegetable bakes... sadly I never got round to it this year, but perhaps in 2015? I see from my archives that I have blogged several times about my Finnish food traditions (with pictures), so until next year, this will have to do.

As usual, Christmas was a busy time for the Halme family. On the 24th, together…

I was lucky enough to be invited to the press screening and interview sessions with the team of the new Moomins on the Riviera film yesterday. This is one of the bonuses of being Head of …

Last Saturday, on the spur of the moment, and because of The Englishman's recent interest in stand-up comedy (more about this later in the year), we decided to check out the Comedy Cabaret Downstairs at The King's Head. I'd heard great many good things about the acts that perform there, so I was very surprised when we got tickets at the door…

Watching the British MPs debate a proposed military action into Syria in the House of Commons last night, I was reminded of a visit Daughter and I took to the Houses of Parliament a few weeks ago. I've always wanted to go, mainly because of my first degree.

When I first moved to the UK, I was in the process of writing a thesis…

On a complete spur of the moment, the Englishman and I decided to go on a pub crawl last night. He'd been going on and on about the fact that I'd not finished The Knowledge (this self-imposed task involves visiting every pub in the area) and thought last night was good as any to finally achieve my goal. 

Crouch End Knowledge: Scarlet Rage Vintage

Anyone who’s been passing through the top of Park Road recently will know that the council has been working on improving the pavement on the Health Centre side. Happily this is now complete (after weeks of disruption), and looks rather nice in my opinion.

Haringay Council are, however, still working on resurfacing and installing more street lighting further…

I've been suffering from a painful shoulder since last December. But it wasn't until May this year, when the pain became acute, that I…

When we moved to this particular corner of North London last January, I set out to do The Crouch End Knowledge, i.e. visit all pubs, bars and cafes in the N8 area and report back to you.  But, due to some other important business (such as the…

Before the 2012 Games, the greatest worry for the organisers and ordinary Londoners was transport. How would the…

You must know by now how I feel about The Olympics. I have severe Olympic fever already and so when I saw the torch relay was coming quite close to us, I immediately decided to walk to Prior Road to see it. The atmosphere was fantastic - the road was lined two or three deep as far as the eye could see. People were cheering anything that went past: sponsors buses, policemen on bikes and motorbikes, relay staff jogging, waving flags or unicycling……

Our new place in Crouch End, north London, is surrounded by all sorts of sports clubs and fields. There's tennis, football and cricket pitches galore.



This afternoon, when the Englishman and I went for a walk with the terrier, we counted no fewer than six - six - cricket matches going on at the same time.…