DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
• The Olympics are underway so it’s only natural that StrangeSights turn its piercing gaze upon the Games in search of some odd (and sometimes funny!) moments. Of course, thanks to the viral nature of the net, we’ve all seen the extremely bored lifeguard at the Olympic swimming pool. There was the rather excruciating moment when Chinese boxer, Lu Bin, thought he’d won his match against Kenyan Peter Mungai Warui, raising his arm in victory until the realisation came that…umm…he hadn’t (pictured is the moment on the NBC Twitter feed). And then there’s the French fencer Enzo Lefort who was in the middle of a bout when his mobile phone fell out of his pocket. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for some more moments this week – and if you spot any, let us know.
• A Swedish town has replaced its pedestrian signs – showing images of people walking across zebra crossings – with signs depicting people dancing or generally being silly as they make their way across the road. The signs – which variously show people playing guitar Chuck Berry-style, jive dancing with a partner or even adopted the silly poses of Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks – are part of a package of measures being taken by Haparanda Council to rejuvenate the town centre. Others reportedly include the placement of new signs directing people to places like the “midnight sun” or “quality of life” and the establishment of new facilities including a restaurant with its own beach.
• It may seem like something out of an early 20th century book imagining what the future world will look like, but China has recently unveiled a new bus which, capable of straddling a highway and sitting above the cars travelling on the road below, they hope may provide an answer of traffic congestion. Standing two metres above the road, the solar and electrically-powered Transit Elevated Bus or TEB can reportedly carry up to 300 people, replacing as many as 40 standard buses. A model for the TEB was only shown off in May before the bus’ test-run earlier this month. Whether it will be seen on the roads soon remains to be seen, however, particularly given some of the rather unfavorable press the concept and its makers have been been receiving since its launch, both around the world and in China.
• And so to this week’s odd church – the conical-shaped Kamppi Chapel, better known to locals as the ‘Silent Church’ in the Finnish capital of Helsinki (pictured). The architecturally award-winning wooden chapel, which was constructed in 2012, was built as a place where people can press pause on their busy lives and spend a few moments in contemplative silence in what is one of the busiest places in the city. The chapel is operated by the Helsinki church parishes and the city council. For more, head here. PICTURE: Tappinen/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0.
