In late 2016, a banner was erected outside Helsinki airport, greeting visitors to the Finnish capital, which would quickly go viral for its no-holds-barred assessment of the city’s wintry reputation: “Nobody in their right mind would come to Helsinki in November. Except you, you badass. Welcome.”
I soon learn that this brand of gallows humour is typical of Helsinki’s warm yet hardy residents, who live in one of the world’s northern-most cities (the only capital closer to the North Pole is Reykjavik).