DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
Renata Tellers walks inside Sampa Sky, a reinforced glass box that protrudes beyond the building and allows to see not only the horizon, but also the ground below your feet, in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 3rd August. PICTURE: Reuters/Amanda Perobelli
• Visitors lie with their feet in the air, sit on the glass floor and walk to the edge of a transparent box as they pose for photos in a new sky deck on the 42nd level of Sao Paulo’s tallest building, the Mirante do Vale. Called the Sampa Sky, the dizzying lookout officially opened on Sunday, but some people got a sneak peek last Wednesday. “I think it’s beautiful, I love it. It was something that was missing in Sao Paulo,” said Sylvia Barreto, who admitted she was a little scared when she stepped out into the glass box. The deck, nine floors below the top of the 170-metre-high building, was inspired by Chicago’s Skydeck, on the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower (one of a number of such attractions around the world). “It’s an incredible sensation,” said Deisi Remus. “I am scared to death of heights, I must confess, but I worked through the fear. After the first step it was incredible, it is incredible to see the city from this height.” – PABLO GARCIA, Reuters
• The city of Kyle in Texas has issued a call-out to all Kyles across the world, asking them to gather in the municipality in September to help set a new record for a gathering of, you guessed it, the most Kyles. In a Facebook post, the city said the gathering will take place at Lake Kyle (where else?) as part of its annual Kyle Pie in the Sky Hot Air Balloon Festival held over 3rd to 5th September. All those with the name of Kyle (and, yes, it must be spelt that way) will receive free entry and a T-shirt. With COVID-19 restrictions still in place in many parts of the world, just how many Kyles are able to make it from outside the US remains to be seen.
Participants compete in a wife-carrying championship in Tapiobicske, Hungary, on 7th August. PICTURE: Reuters/Marton Monus
• Some 40 Hungarian husbands, with their wives on their backs, clambered over rough terrain on Saturday in the nation’s second wife-carrying contest. A previous race in October attracted only a dozen couples. “We have just emerged from a difficult period due to the coronavirus and we need to go and have fun in the open air,” Gergely Guraly, who organised the race, told Reuters. Guraly began preparations in January for the contest, which is said to have origins dating back to the Viking age. In modern times, the tradition is particularly established in Finland, where it has taken place since the 1990s. Estonian races have lent their name to the Estonian style of wife-carrying, with the wife upside down and her feet over her husband’s shoulders, rather than a classic piggyback. Mark Mazacs and his wife Anett chose the piggyback technique. “We devised a strategy, figuring out the best way of carrying my wife on my back,” Mark Mazacs said. – KRISZTINA FENYO, Reuters
