Yesterday I paid my first visit to the new building housing the Faculty of Humanities here in Tampere. The white thing has lots of glass and steel; it seems to be a deliberate departure from the traditions of classical or neoclassical or Art Nouveau or functionalist or (fill in the blank) public buildings. There's an air of cleanliness and efficacy hovering in that space. The standardised offices are located along long, light-coloured corridors with smooth surfaces where my sneakers made a whining sound on each step. If our old cosy, slightly impractical but relatively spacious building by the edge of the Pyynikki Ridge was a sheltered home for Suspicious Disciplines of Limited Profitability, the new one is either a hospital where They (the Powerful Healers of Academic Disease) try to mend our ways, or a chemical factory where a magical compound is being developed for the salvation of the languages in a culture of productivity. But it does have a cool tube connecting the fifth floor to the main building of the university. 15:40