The last straw was the 6 photos of ourselves surrounded by a bout of London 'freezing fog'. Desperate for snow, we scheduled a trip to the Arctic Circle.
As our jet taxied from Terminal 1 we passed the damaged BA plane that had lost all power, touching down short on its approach to Heathrow.
Our plane burst through the cloudy Friday London skies and headed east over northern Europe.
The jet banked left over Tallin, Estonia on our approach to Helsinki. Below stretched a dozen frozen lakes winding away from the coast into farmland, dusted with snow.
We explored the terminal with time to kill for our connecting flight to Rovaniemi. A staff member wizzed passed on a foot-scooter pushing us into a Finish delicatessen where we discovered tinned Bear (90% Bear meat) and tinned Reindeer.
It suddenly occurred to us that we couldn't speak a word of Finish, so at a nearby bar the waitress explained that 'thankyou' was pronounced 'kittos'.
We dined in a restaurant right next to our departure gate.
Our next flight had unallocated seating, which was a new and stressful experience for molly-coddled travellers like us. Respect for the good old fashioned British queing was lost. The flight was actually excellent and we were able to see through the external camera during take-off.
The small airport was blanketed in soft white snow.
This was Santa's home town, his airport. Our luggage was second off the carousel and we were first out the door, a perfect airport arrival experience.When you stay at a hotel, our tip is to not be next door to a sign that says "Biggest Niteclub in Town". Not ones to take our own advice, (Trip Advisor -you're sacked!) we drowned out the thumping of base with alcohol and crashed.
The breakfast hall was full of rally drivers (Porsche camp 4) and skiers, mostly of the obnoxious, overconfident variety. Arctic berries were the specialty, frozen and tasty.
We caught a local bus to Santas Village in the arctic circle.
The soft low set sun burst through the birch trees covered in powdered snow. The park was below minus 10 degrees celcius. Despite all our warmth it was very, very cold. 
A snowball fight ensued.Next to the hotel winds a semi-frozen lake with a path that led us around the peninsular and back into the town. The sun is meant to be going through an active phase. In the evening we waited expectantly under the empty clear blue sky, counting our lucky stars and hoping to see the Northern Lights.
.. I awoke a few times, even at 0300 but could see nothing unusual.
The next morning we stared in disbelief at the temperature... minus 24...
We took a bus ride around the town and then ascended to the summit of Ounasvaara where I commandeered a sled and wizzed 
down the slope a couple of times before realising I was freezing to death. Back down to Rovaneimi for lunch. It started to snow.
