Shopping + Observations Regarding Various Markets
I went to shop for lunch in a hypermarket today.
I noticed they had cross-country skis for sale already. Last winter was a disaster for cross-country skiers. There was snow on the ground at all only intermittently and only for a few weeks or days at a time. The only place here where there was sufficient snow was near the ski stadium where there were artificial ski trails a few kilometres long in total. I'm hoping that next winter will be a proper one, although I did like the fact that our heating bills were lower than usual. Back in 2018 when we had just moved here, the bill for January was €320. It was a normal January with plenty of snow and the average monthly temperature firmly below freezing. Last January was quite warm and our heating bill was only a little shy of €270. There is about 200 m2 to heat so it isn't too much on a per square meter basis. We have district heating and the house has got wood fiber insulation and it's quite effective. As a bonus, water vapor does not damage it very easily because the material is capable of a relatively high degree of water vapor adsorption, which means that the water molecules stick to the large total surface area of the insulating material without condensing into microscopic droplets where microbes can live.
It was on the news the other day that the real estate market has changed as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic. Spacious homes further out from dense urban cores are in demand again. Large homes in outer suburbs and exurbs were in high demand in the first decade of the 2000's. That demand disappeared after the financial crisis of 2008. We felt it when we were selling our suburban home in Tampere between 2014 and 2017. I'm happy to hear that the trend has reversed.
Is this change observable in your country as well?
That's what they're asking for a package with adult size skating skis and bindings.
This is the newest craze. You don't need grip wax with this type of grip hair.
This is what they're asking for the skis with bindings attached.
The ski market is not very good these days. A cross-country skiing legend Harri Kirvesniemi owns a ski factory. The company applied for debt restructuring last may. It's a difficult market these days with climate change shortening the season.
Changes in the winter sports equipment market are not only caused by climate change but also the growing popularity of team sports. Ice hockey is now the number one sport in the country as opposed to Nordic skiing. The rankings of the national teams in football (soccer), volleyball and basketball are also rising. The good for nothing weather at wintertime and urbanization are causing young people gifted at sports to go for team sports at increasing numbers. The larger the proportion of the population living in the larger cities, the more likely is it possible to organize a series in a number of smaller team sports for more age groups.
Going trough the vegetable & fruit deparment
Found my salad!
Going to the parking area. None of the phone shops had any detachable lenses for my phone. There's one store in the city that has them but it only had one macro lens that was not good according to reviews.
