Yesterday's paper reported that the average temperature for December 2006 in the Helsinki region was +4C whereas the average for December for the period 1900-2000 was -2.1C

It always amazes me that when they come out with such statistics they never say what exactly they mean. How do they calculate the average temperature ? Is the daily figure the average for the entire day; based on four (or two) readings (night and day) or is it I suspect based on the temperature at one daytime hour like 12:00 or 13:00. I guess we'll never know but I suspect it's the latter - that would better match the month even though it was minus degrees at night, by no means as often as usual.

Today was minus degrees but luckily we've recently had so many days of plus degrees that the gravel paths were able to soak up the recent days rain in time before the minus degrees would have frozen it to ice, so the paths through my local woods (walking which with an MP3 player in my ears [Archos 401 with 20GB] is my main winter exercise so it's pretty important I can do it at a quick pace) were very easy to walk on for once.

Aside: Why is it that four guys running together or three people walking with those ridiculous "Nordic Walking" sticks are always so boorish as to assume that any single walker walking towards them will make way for them [=step off the path] instead of them sticking to their own side of the path when there is meeting traffic ?

Just another example of people not being used to living in places with more than a few hundred inhabitants I guess although surely not all of them are "just off the farm"?