Jürgen climbed on to a shop roof and sat down. He listened to some music on his phone, and when the track ended, he looked at the street below through the sight of a small-bore rifle. ‘After watching for a while, I began shooting,’ Jürgen explained to the judge.

Jürgen fired twenty shots with the small-bore rifle but when no one seemed to take any notice, he swapped it for a hunting rifle. He only stopped when he saw two men fall to the ground.

‘Then I ran off. I suddenly got the feeling I wanted to go to sleep,’ Jürgen says. He slept in the woods for a while and then walked home. When he saw the police in front of his house, he went to sit down by the side of the road. That’s where the police found him.

In court, Jürgen was asked why he began shooting.

‘Well, ’cause I lost the wrestling match,’ he answered. ‘That’s all I can say.’

My friend Hamish MacKay,

Greetings from Kyoto; I decided to go on a little trip.

The building works seemed to be getting on fine without me, and I was beginning to get fed up with the pot holders. My brother, who was ill all summer, is feeling a bit better now and is back at work. My niece goes to school by bus now, on her own, so I thought it safe to go away for a while.

The card shows a park I visited yesterday. The tea I had to drink there was over a hundred years old. Can you imagine!

I hope you are well. Perhaps you have written during my absence and a letter awaits me at home.

Regards from your friend Annu

Dear Mr MacKay,

These are the boats they use to fish with in Okinawa! I ate lobster yesterday, and when I saw this card on a stand, I decided to send it to you. I wonder if your letter has got lost in the post; my brother said on the phone that no letter has arrived.

Warm wishes,
Annu

My dear friend,

The first snow has fallen in Finland. It is equally magi-cal every time. Now everything is clean and white, the evenings don’t feel dark and all the unfinished jobs in the garden have been mercifully covered by snow. We shall have to see how long the snow will stay. They have forecast milder weather for next week, which here in the south means a return to slush and darkness. I never got round to tidying the edges of the sand path before the end of autumn, damn it. It takes several days to straighten them with a spade. But what can you do? A lawnmower is no good for that job.