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Bags in the lobby by the ice.

Before today's game against the Ukrainians, I went to get a broom stored behind the fence in lane number one, which was reserved for this purpose by the organizers. The black bags lined up in a row brought back memories of a story I read some time ago. It was one hundred and twelve years ago when the Titanic wrecked and as part of the salvage operation, some of the dead bodies were taken to the Mayflower Curling Club after being recovered from the sea and placed in bags on the ice. The whole club was then used as a mortuary. I remember a documentary photo showing the bags of remains resembling broom bags. There is a similar history at the Scottish Curling Club in Lockerbie, where after the air disaster (1988) the ice rink in the hall served the same purpose. And it looked pretty similar.

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But enough of the morbid connections and contexts. The regular programme of the European Curling Championships 2024 also brings some interesting moments. In the presence of several uniformed and plain-clothed police officers, we took on a team of young Ukrainian women led by Scottish coach Harry Gow. While we practiced and played, the policemen sipped the offered coffee and watched the action at the club. So far they have not missed a single game of the Israeli national team, but they are losing their game against the Hungarians early today. The Israelis soon leave the hall and the policemen get up and say goodbye to the staff. Meanwhile, we crush our opponents 10-1, leave for lunch and start our slightly longer break. I'm catching up on work stuff, but tonight I have a regular training session to go to with Karolina around 8:00. I send my congratulations to the boys in Lohja. I see the first win (against Holland) as the beginning of the road to several more victories. Congratulations to the new national champions in the mixed doubles junior category (Krupičková, Blaha).