I’m wide awake again by 7.30am. Last week I’d arranged to meet Niko Hasa, the Head Coach of SJK III (average age 17-19) and the guy who runs SJK’s Football High School at Kuortane. To add to the club’s walking wounded, Niko is ill so that meeting is now off the agenda. I text Jani…

I stuff my coat, hat and gloves into the back of Stevie’s car and we begin the journey to Vaasa. Once we are out of Seinajoki town I am surprised to see ploughed field after ploughed field with somewhat worse-for-wear farm and out houses. What on earth grows here in this weather? Who lives this…

There’s absolutely no way I’m getting back to sleep so I get out of bed and take a shower. Stevie told me last thing last night to just grab whatever for breakfast out of the cupboard. Coco Pops and Cheerios it is. I look in all the kitchen drawers for a spoon. What passes for…

It’s 9.20 pm and I’m in Helsinki airport. It’s pretty much empty of people. I’ve collected my bag and been through passport control in the space of a few minutes – the walk past all the gates took longer. It’s been refreshingly efficient. The place is also spotlessly clean. The toilets are positively palatial compared…