Football, cold fronts and flowers
The extreme
weather news is now coming from the other side of the world as a massive
cyclone is bearing down on the Bay of Bengal and India. Apparently some 600,000
people have been evacuated as the weather threatens homes, families,
agriculture, towns, etc. We know how they feel but it’s looking like this
cyclone is mega enormous, it is awful. Fortunately, we have had no more
hurricanes here but the rain is still with us, as the first of the cold fronts
start to arrive. Our roads are absolutely appalling now and you have to drive
with your eyes on the road and become an expert at negotiating all the holes.
There are some that are so deep that it’s really easy to get a puncture or
damage the axel. The motorway is now open to Acapulco, as of yesterday, and
life is getting slowly back to normal. However, there are still thousands of
people without homes, food and electricity and the reconstruction will take a
long time. Needless to say news about their suffering is no longer making the
news, especially as football has become a bit of a national issue and the
passion is coming to the fore…
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www.abc.net.au |
Did you
know that hurricanes,
cyclones, and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon? What distinguishes
them is their description that indicates where they occur. You will have a
hurricane here but a cyclone in India.
Hurricanes,
cyclones and typhoons get names but cold fronts get numbers and we can expect a
lot of them over the next months. In some places up north the temperatures go
right down and there is even snow. Here, we just feel the chill at night but
will always have bright sunshine and lovely temperatures during the day. I love this time of year as everything is so
green and the day of the dead flowers start appearing all over the countryside,
not just the cempasuchitl that you can buy in the nurseries but also the wild
versions covering the hillsides, it is a really beautiful time of year. I spent
the morning picking almost the last of the calendulas and putting them in vases
all over the house, along with the first of the wild cempasuchitl that grow in
my garden. I love the colours together and the smell.
But back to
the football and the World Cup; Mexico has not been doing too well and their
qualification is very much in the balance. Last night they played against
Panama in the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City and they had no option other than to
win, if they are to have any chance at all of scraping through in their group.
Well, fortunately, they did manage to win, 2:1, and there was relief all round.
The whole country was watching as Chicharito managed to miss a gift of a
penalty and it was only after the final whistle was blown that celebrations
began. They have one more game ahead of them, against Costa Rica, and then we
shall know if they manage to qualify or not. Since the World Cup is in Brazil
this time it would be awful if Mexico were not to participate; football is a
huge sport over here and having this mega event in Latin America has raised all
sorts of extra expectation. I understand that England have to play Poland next
week and if they win will automatically qualify, fingers crossed they do.
Every 4
years we get excited about the World Cup over here and I end up, together with
my dear friend F, supporting England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, as well as
Mexico and watch as many of the matches together as we can. Fortunately, there
have never been matches between Mexico and England so far; we would probably
lose friends if that did happen at some stage. Anyway, I find that these major
sporting events are fascinating and am an avid watcher and supporter of the
World Cup. I hope that Mexico does indeed qualify. Football is a great way to
unite people; it also provides relief to those people who have had to suffer so
much as a result of the hurricanes and tropical storms this year.
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