Daily Archives: March 6, 2018

Midnight Sun Event

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Checked out the Wife Carrying Contest.  Next year will spend all 3 days in and out with the wristband as the food was that good, not the usual fair food.  A beautiful day at Bryant Park this past Sunday. The giant Crocodile eating our bridge priceless.  Saw folks from Parrot Cove, College Park and of course Bryant Park.  Was impressed with the cleanliness and all the blue and white.  The Kids area was great with different kinds of activities that I had not seen before.  They most likely gave their parents an early night, after the full days’ activities.   Trying to give a blow by blow of the race in chronological order of the obstacles in the race.  From the start to the finish, the obstructions, and not obvious how far they actually had to run.  All the way past the painted containers to the sea wall.

photo      Tom Johnson

The entertainers were top drawer Hanna Pakarinen won Finland’s top performer and Mary of Rudy’s pub was their official host.  As I was watching and listening to Hanna she so reminded me of Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac.  The performances were in English and Finnish.  At 12:45 the crowd gathered around the stanchions ready for the “wive carrying contest”*.

the sprinter #101  on left

 6x world champ Taisto Miettinen                                                                          photo Tom Johnson

 

Got there early, positioned myself opposite the water obstacle, only to see it was not the vantage point for me.  Ultimately the winner was #101 Attorney Taisto Miettinen of Finland who prior to the start was seen sprinting the course twice before he saddled himself with a wife.  Note if you want to see really good photos and up close I recommend you check into Tom Johnson FB page.  Reporting the race chronologically here.  Not satisfied with the water obstacle view,

obvious  here who has the best view

I spotted the kids across and how high they were.  So that was my next view point.  Imagine Sophias (that’s her name)  surprise as I crawled into the children’s jump house.

????

documented by Tom Johnson, thanks

from my perch                                                                                      the Wellington competitor

There was local competition, the Lake Worth competitor was paired with one from Wellington.   It was a great crowd that looked on and cheered on their favorites. The next obstacle took place where the crowd was less dense.

The hurdle

The hurdle was the halfway point, from there still a way to go to the sea wall.

view to the end of the race course, the seawall

the victory lap, with (the rent a wife?) have no clue

Next year it will be more competitive as at the end, out of nowhere appeared two women carrying their wives.  Leave it to quirky Lake Worth to add to the already exciting event. 

Hello Parrot Cove

this is what kept the kids occupied

Johan Joe is up in West Palm Beach and I can recommend it for the ambiance as well as the wonderful food. 

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  • the story is about the wife carrying is based on fact.  however, there are several versions some nice and palpable  Robin Hood others roguish.

Beach closed

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As I drove up, to our Lake Worth Beach it’s as busy as always, so what was that thing I heard about the beach closing.   I could see the waves way out crashing from the car. Rarely see people sunning themselves on the grass.  No alarms went off.  Made for some nice photography.   Then I wondered why are all these people lined up looking out to sea.

Lake Worth Beach CLOSED

BEACH CLOSED!  This was most likely the busiest day for our lifeguards as they had to be extra vigilant, people do not like being restricted and curiosity gets in the way.  Spotted a few surfers in the water, they were junior lifeguards.  The sand had encroached on to the boardwalk. That indicated the high tide line.  Heard that one surfer drifted, ended up in Lantana as the ocean current was carrying him south with major force. As one person described it “a heavy river going south? she was speaking of watching the current.

recognize the promenade, that is where the water came to at high tide

 

no surfers except  Jr. Lifeguards

It did not impact the businesses however there are several meters not functioning.  On the north side ones been out for better than 10 days tourist let me know. LOL I told him I would report it to the right person. On the south, one refuses to take coins well that’s true of the north also. I only take quarters since with my fair skin  45 min will do me in.   Had to wait in line for a guy in front of me dealing with quarters that kept coming back and coming back.  I didn’t have any better luck either so by the time I got back to my car,  ticket!

Editors note:  PS  the showers need attention knobs missing.

 

 

 

 

Monday Blogger Chris Gostling

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Monday Blogger

Chris Gostling
Monday Blogger

Where did that week go? I cannot believe that it is Monday again and a week since The Street Painting Festival. It is a beautiful morning here in Lake Worth,  as usual, one of those blue skies with wispy clouds, a welcome breeze keeping the heat at bay, fabulous!

Not so in England which has, like much of Europe, been hit with what has been called ‘The Beast from the East’, heavy snow storms with freezing temperatures. We never get snowstorms where I live just East of London, maybe a flurry or two, but nothing like a foot of snow with lots of ice. The problem when you are not expecting it or are not used to it is that you are not ready, the right equipment is not available, roads get clogged, trains cease to run on frozen lines and utilities start to fail and it has been chaos. Of course, there is always a bright side to everything, school’s closed, parents could not get to work and with lots of slopes filed with white fresh snow there is nothing to do but take a tray, a sledge, trash bags anything that will slide and do just that, slide from top to bottom…..on your front, your back, any way! If you have skis, dig them out and ski! Then there is always the snowball fight and the snowman building competition – whatever it was, fun was had by all! One of our smaller schools hit the news because the staff had a snowball fight with the students, what memories those children will have of school, they dared to throw the health and safety rule book out of the window and let the children be children for once. And, of course, I have missed it all!!!! Just to demonstrate the difference a day makes, it appears to be sunshine all the way today with snow rapidly disappearing and normal life resuming. It seems that the weather is unpredictable almost everywhere with extremes, from droughts to floods to heatwaves to snow, crazy!!!

don’t ask, it was funny

This week has been perfect, catching up with friends is always fun, with parties and breakfast and dinner dates where we sit chattering non stop about everything and everyone for hours at a time.

I did something I have been wanting to do for ages, and that is go to The Stonzek Picture House, ‘Loving Vincent’ was on, a film I wanted to see but missed first time around so now was my chance. First of all, Sacha sells the tickets,

Sasha

if you want popcorn or candy or coffee, he also does that and just before starting the film he welcomes everyone and gives a short talk on the film showing as well as reminding everyone where the restrooms are, films coming shortly and a gentle reminder about switching off phones. Then he starts the projector which can be unpredictable and has to be stopped three times to get it right. It was an amazing experience, the film was incredible and everyone applauded at the end. I loved that people get up to go to the bathroom throughout the film and had to walk in front of the screen to get there.

I tried the new bookshop, new restaurant Lilo’s, breakfast at Toojays with it’s revamped signs, the beach, evening on the avenue amongst other things and now feel very much at home. The sun cream machines down at the beach are a great addition if you leave your sunscreen at home…..no more sunburn!

Last Friday in the Plaza a young woman was rocking it, a total one-woman band who had everyone tapping their feet, dancing and clapping their hands, amazing! I love the bands that entertain down there…

rededication at the south 5th st. Greenway this past Tuesday

I am having fun spotting the Little Free Libraries which are dotted around town and have already borrowed and read, two books. It is a great project and I hear that the founder of the LFL’s, Tod Bol, is coming to the town soon, he will be impressed with the number of LFL’s that there are and that few of them ever get vandalised. Mary Lindsey inspired me when the LFL project started and I got to paint a library, it has grown and grown and is making a difference to literacy levels among the children along with the reading schemes and library programmes. I have set up the same scheme in my hometown of Southend on sea but it has not reached the success it has here but maybe one day, you never know. Mary is always happy to help when I get stuck…..

The elections are coming up soon and that is always an exciting time, I am glad we will be here to share the anticipation and excitement and then the celebrations. The work that goes on behind the scenes for an election is incredible, from volunteers posting flyers in mailboxes to organisation of talks, of get togethers, of paperwork, it all goes to informing people of what they are voting for and why they should vote. I am sure the campaigns have been successful and people will come out in huge numbers to vote for the right people to run this beautiful city.

I love the mural on the swimming pool wall down at the beach and I am loving all the new artwork that has appeared all over town – my favourite

continues line all through the Street Painting Festival weekend for this photo op.

being the wings on the side of the shoe repair shop. I like them because I have seen everyone having lots of fun taking photos, I particularly like the wings for children with the tiny footprints to stand in the get exactly the right shot….a great idea!

This week looks as if it is going to be more excitement and fun, the weather is set to be gorgeous, a couple of rain showers but that means we also get rainbows. I hope the coming week is fabulous for you……