When writing this, the temperature in the shade outside our summer cottage in the archipelago outside Helsinki is plus 30 degrees , which I imagine is just about the same as in Almuñécar today on Wednesday 23rd of July, on the day of the Gazette deadline , as usual. Sorry Dave, I’m late as usual, but I will try to avoid Swenglish to minimize your editing work. (Wonderfully easy as usual Marianne – Ed)
July in the Nordic countries has been exceptional, with tropical temperatures around 26-30 for almost two weeks now. The hot weather has brought thunder storms in its wake. On golf courses in central Finland, where the thunder storms have been extremely severe, one person died and one was injured after having been struck by lightning. The unfortunate deadly accident occurred when the victim, a pensioner, interrupted the game because of the heavy rain. He was returning to the club house pushing his golf trolley, when a lightning bolt struck the trolley and he fell lifeless to the ground. There were no thunder storm clouds visible. The lightning seemed to strike from an ordinary cumulus cloud. Death was immediate, and attempts to revive him proved hopeless.
In the other accident, the umbrella the victim was carrying was struck, and he was severely shaken and taken to hospital where he soon recovered from the electric shock. What do we learn from this? Golf courses, with vast fields, irrigation pipes, golf clubs, trolleys, umbrellas etc. are extremely prone to being struck by lightning. The game might be exciting and difficult to stop, but when a thunder storm is imminent, you should immediately stop playing, leave your clubs, umbrellas or other metallic objects on the course and avoid going right under a tree. The clubs might be stolen, but life is more important than a set of clubs. If you are far from the club house or parking lot you should kneel down, preferably about 10 meters from a tree and wait for the worst to pass. Some courses in Finland have developed a thunder alarm system calling players back to base as soon as a thunder storm is detected.
This year, June and July have been marked by the football world championship in Brazil. The matches were all shown late in the night resulting in baggy eyed enthusiasts with a vocabulary strictly limited to football terminology. The fiasco of the Spanish team was extremely hard for us “semi Spaniards” to take. The loss against The Netherlands with a devastating 1-5 scoreline was a shock. Often the first goal causes panic in the team, and the 0-1 to the orange team seemed to “freeze” the Spaniards and especially the goal keeper Iker Casillas who did not have his best day on Thursday June 12th. The loss to Chile on June 18th was the final blow for “los rojos”, who were sent home. The subsequent victory against Australia on June 23rd was a poor consolation.
Some athletes that especially come to my mind are Uruguay’s Luis Suarez , who has been suspended three times for biting opponents. Every time he says it will never happen again. And now after having gnawed on the shoulder of Italian Georgio Chiellini in the World Cup Games, drawing a four month suspension from FIFA, Suarez issued a statement of apology and again promised that he’s done biting other soccer players. One wonders what he will be biting instead.
Players who performed extremely well in the world cup were Colombian James Rodriguez who has been signed by Real Madrid, Netherland’s Arjen Robben, Brazil’s Neymar Jr, who was severely injured in the back during the match against Colombia, Argentina’s Messi and German’s Schweinsteiger, Klose, Mueller and the hero Götze who scored the winning goal, not to mention their fantastic goal keeper Manuel Neuer. The Germans deserved the victory as the best team from the very beginning of the cup. Congrats.