The smoking Finns

No, they're not an ageing 80s Euro-trash punk-rock band. They're just three guys from the cold and Nokia-abundant nation of Finland, who are staying here at the Kabul hostel with me. I bumped into the Finnish boys down in the bar this evening, and I ended up chatting and playing pool with them for half the night, over several glasses of the hostel's very cheap beer. The boys are very friendly — but much to my discomfort, they chain-smoke like you wouldn't believe, and as such being around them for too long can pose something of a respiratory challenge.