holland! holland!

I guess most people expected the Dutch to win today, but few thought that it would be that close. (I too thought that the Netherlands will go through, but I thought it would be a very close call indeed - and during the match I thought I've been wrong, until Uruguay scored their second goal to make it 2:3, after which they came quite close to reaching overtime.)

Well anyway. I'm not too sure if the Dutch team is good enough to win the title but of the teams remaining now they're the only ones I'm sympathising with, so I'll just have to hope that they'll still improve that tiny little bit which probably could win them their first big title. (And wasn't that a shot, the one from Giovanni van Bronckhorst?! From a good 25 metres distance, and intended like that!)

Oh, too keep you updated on weather: we've had some weird turns lately, blazingly hot for days on end (after a very cold period), then heavy thunderstorms with record rainfalls and floodings; this photo actually shows thunderstorm clouds (but I was some distance off from its epicentre). And it'll be hot again in the days to come. So hot, humid, wet - tropical! Which by the way is the weather conditions I hate most; hot and dry I can live with, but hot and wet is just intolerable.

bohemia

This weekend I discovered, to my huge surprise, that in my native Bohemian Massif some rare plants are to be found which I never expected to find there - Lilium martagon, Dactylorhiza maculata, and last but not least, this one here, Platanthera montana, already on the Czech side of Böhmerwald/Šumava, in the previous no-mans-land of Cold War times which has been converted to a national park:

(Oh, about World Cup. Well, I was away for the weekend. Yes sure, there's TV and everything in Mühlviertel but I've had other things on my mind, okay? Yes right, big upset there with the Netherlands sending Brazil home, but it serves them right, right? Not that I've seen a minute of the match but Brazilians ought to play like Brazilians, right? Oh and yes, absolutely, Spain needs to improve if they want to get anywhere. No big surprise about the other match, I always suspected it would end in a draw - only that I thought it would be a goalless draw, and that obviously some drama was involved there but, again, I didn't see a minute of it.)

(Yes and?? Oh okay, right, Germany versus Argentina. Oh of course, they were the better team and by a long way, and Argentina really didn't deserve better - they have to perform if they want to proceed to the semis, right? Oh but now, how could I? I never could support the Germans, that's outright impossible, I'm Austrian, see? Right. So yes, of course they deserved to win, but this changes nothing, I'll just have to hope then that the Germans will be punished by the Dutch team in the finals, as being beaten by the Dutch, and especially in the finals, really would be a defeat that hurts, for the Germans.)

(Oh but no, I've got nothing against the Germans, not at all really. Point is, there's just this rivalry you know, in sports, especially in football. And German media are just so arrogant when it comes to football, this Joki Löw guy for example downplayed Ghana as a team which, even though much better than the Austrian equipe, and to be played against with utmost concentration, isn't quite a match for them. Which is both annoying for Ghana and Austria, for the latter especially as there was no reason to mention Austria which, of course, didn't qualify. So this to explain. So you still don't understand? Pity. I guess the problem then is that you're not Austrian; which, unfortunately, then couldn't be helped ...)