maybe he hired the prostitues?

Lol! Great title, given the soliciting news.

"Great title, given the soliciting news"

:-))

The road to Doha is about to continue as Vera will play Ioana. Jelena stayed on the path with a 3 set win against Yaroslava.

Meanwhile in Luxembourg, Kim won her first singles match losing only 4 games and the USO rematch did not happen as Melanie w/d due to illness

Ok Guys 3 times proves it lol!

"Great title,given the soliciting news"

+ 3

By the way, who is Ernests Gulbis?

MA, he is a solicitor, who works for the firm Gulbis, Pim and Pimp.

Hello, everyone:

Presumably Mrs. Gulbis' son.

All I can remember about Nasty is that he was a pain in the butt.

Pspace Good one.LOL!

oh, Igor :-((

Pspace...lol!

It would be more aprop to say he works for "Gulbis, Pum, Pum and Pimp."

But you would need to be from a particular region of the world or certain streets in Brooklyn, NY to get it. I cannot explain it without risking banning.

I think we need to find Earnie a g/friend ASAP

Maybe someone from the WTA tour?

Ok Fan Boys get yourselves together

This where you Shine.

Maybe that Giselle Dulko gee she seems to have gone out with every guy on the Atp Tour.Maybe a liitle old for young Earnie though maybe his might need the old woman thing at the moment.

LMAO Pspace!

Doesn't the ATP have some kind of mentoring program? I would've thought that on day one, someone (Marat? Moya?) would have pulled Ernie over to the side, slung an arm over his shoulder, and schooled him in these matters. Oh well. I just hope Ernie at least had enough sense not to try to pay with a credit card.

This tournament may have been "the beginning of the end," but, perhaps the "last hurrah" was the Nastase-McEnroe 1979 U.S. Open match where chair umpire Frank Hammond disqualified Nastase (following the pertinent rules) and had his decision overturned by the tournament director or whoever the pertinent higher up was

Truly a disgraceful action by the tournament director.

Sure, there have been incidents since this 1979 match, but they seem like aftershocks after the last Big One.

WTA significant matches for Wednesday:

Moscow(Road to Doha)
A Radwanska vs Kirilenko - Agnieszka road is a very long and narrow path with road blocks at every turn
Szavay vs Pennetta - Flavia playing for an alternate spot

Luxembourg
Dulgheru vs Wickmayer - Yanina, Jon Wertheim darkhorse for 2010 AO, along with Shahar is trying to win their 3rd International tournament and be eligible to collect one million dollars if she wins Bali on 11/8/09.
Malek vs Hantuchova - Rumor has it that Daniela asked for a wildcard to Bali but if she won, she will not have to worry about a wildcard
Lisicki vs Hercog - Despite winning a title, Sabine is looking to win her first International title to qualify as she won a Premier in Charleston. After dealing with a lot of injuries, Bali would be a good way for her to play at least 2 matches and have confidence for 2010.

Grigor is playing Jarkko in Stockholm and Jarkko is up a double break at 3-0

Davai, Vera! Please no meltdowns...

*from the other thread*
Hey, aussiemarg! I'm a busy bee these days, plus USO has put me off tennis for quite some time *shudders at the thought*...Well, men's part of it to be more precise, Kimmy winning was great.

WOW! Caro up 5-0 2nd set and retires!!.....smart move imo, she was seen by trainer 3 times and was obviously playing in pain.

Great piece, Mr. Bodo. In one of his memoirs (I think it was DAYS of GRACE), Ashe wrote that Nasty was notorious for mocking his opponents' virility by mocking them with the lame "limp wrist" imitation after weak shots.

Ashe should have throttled him, but it is to his unending credit that he somehow managed to form a friendship with that vulgar oaf. After the match in Stockholm (I also read this in Ashe's memoir), Nasty sent him a bouquet of roses, an act of contrition that cemented the friendship between the two players. And even though Ashe did not invite said vulgar oaf to his wedding, the latter still showed up, shook his friend's hand, and told him that "you didn't invite me, but I came anyway."

I note in passing, too, that the Stockholm tournament provided the background for one of McEnroe's memorable tantrums; this was in 1984, when he put his racquet to use by spraying the court with water bottles, cups, human hair, etc. A few weeks later, he appalled the Swedish audience (not to mention Captain Ashe and an international audience) with similar antics.

--Liron

lira vega yes Kims win in many ways was "unbelievable".She played exceptional tennis throughout the US OPEN and was indeed a worthy winner.

Shocker in Luxembourg:

Kremer wins by retirement despite Caroline leading 7-5,5-0

Mr. and Mrs. D.,
What is the word on Caroline in Luxembourg?

I hope Caro will be OK for Doha.

MA: were you watching? Caro was covering the court unbelievably well...yet limping between points. I understand now why Marat found that so frustrating when he played Berdych last week.

Mr. and Mrs. D., what's Caro's injury? What was she seen for in MTOs?

MA: I've turned the stream off, but during the match the commies kept wondering why she was still playing with Doha at stake next week.

Anne Kremer is definitely a lucky loser by sense of the word. She enters the main draw thanks to an illness by Melanie and now advances to the 2nd round one game away from losing the match.

Mr and Mrs D,
Caroline wised up and retired as Doha is next week and she is required to play 3 matches unless her injury has not gotten better.

Hmm, do I root against Zvonareva in hope of that glittery nutter making it to the YEC? Nah, poor Vera's prolly earned it more than JJ

Also, to clear things up re Ernie being dumb from the other thread..It was about him picking up prostitute on the street in a country where paying for sex is illegal, nothing more

Mr. and Mrs. D.,
No, I am at the day job :(

Caroline has now moved up to #4? Somewhere, Samantha must be overjoyed.

MA: I like that Caro retired instead of winning then pulling out.

Sokol: left upper thigh...(not sure what exactly is wrong)

Can a player be seen three times by trainer for same injury?

"I like that Caro retired instead of winning then pulling out."

+1

Mr. and Mrs. D.,
she can be seen and treated on the changeovers, but can't ask for the MTO, AFAIK.

Vera is serving for the first set... easy going for now... hope she continues this way...

MA: my son is home sick from school today so I'm here catching up on laundry and watching tennis. I'm ashamed to say about an hour ago he called upstairs, "I'm so hungry, can we please eat?!" Shame on me.

Just heard on our sports radio here in Sydney that Justine will be playing Brisbane tournament,though I went to website about 1/2 hr ago still no confirmation as such.

"I'm ashamed to say about an hour ago he called upstairs, "I'm so hungry, can we please eat?!" Shame on me."

I'm ashamed to say that I had similar situation couple times :-), so you're not alone :-)

lira vega: thanks. First time was in the middle of a game.....she was flat on her stomach getting treatment.

I should add, however, that it was that other megalomaniac oaf--Jimbo Connors--who set the vitriolic tone of the Sweden vs. USA tie when he greeted Captain Ashe by etching a huge "F--K YOU" on the soft clay of the practice court. (Connors was incensed because--get this--Ashe, who was stuck in traffic, showed up ten minutes late to the practice session.) I wonder, too, what Connors thought when Guga Kuerten delighted the French crowd by drawing that huge heart on the clay of Roland Garros. My guess? "What a weenie!"

Aussiemarg,
Thanks for the information about Justine. The TD has to be dancing on the ceiling as Brisbane will have the Belgians and Ana at least on the WTA side as of now.

Vera is off to a good start so far.

". . . coupled with Borg's runner-up finish in Dallas (where he beat Rod Laver, in one of the aging Aussie icon's last memorable performances)."

Pete is referring to the 1975 WCT Finals tournament semifinal match between Borg and the 36 or 37-year old Laver, where Laver went toe-to-toe with Borg until Laver ran out of gas in the fifth set.

If someone (the Hunt estate?) has a video of that match, that video should be replayed once a week on the Tennis Channel or some other sports outlet. Absolutely enthralling match.

Yeah, first time she can do it whenever she wants, but if she wants another MTO, it needs to be for different injury...Why yes, I'm a JJ fan, why do you ask? ;)

Tut, tut, Baby Fed was handed a bagel in the first set by Jarkk the Shark and is 1-5 down in the second.

lol....now that you mention it, Caro's opponent had a break point while Caro was getting a nice leg rub, so while she may not have stolen a massage, she certainly stole the momentum!:)

Andrew (From yesterday's YC) : It's not very accurate to look at the scoreline of Nadal-Hewitt match and judge Rafa's form. Like MSF said Hewitt probably played one of his worst matches and clay isn't really his thing. To be objective look at Rafa's other matches in RG 09. Let's also consider that Nadal had 2 very close sets against a 31 year old (having a 1handed bh) pro Daniel, and if the brazilian had some cojones he would have taken at least a set(he had plenty of bp opportunities in the first). The Nadal of 05-08 would have handed at least a bagel or breadstick to Daniel. And Nadal also lost a set (match) on clay in an exo against nr.109 in the world. Doesn't that count? Did folks actually watch matches and compare Nadal's performance at RG this year with his previous yrs (or even the clay season earlier this yr?)

The fact is that most tennis commentators and analysts said that Nadal was not playing at his best during RG. Even if Rafa had beaten Soderling he would have faced Davydenko-gonzales/murray-Federer. Not an easy draw for a guy not at his best. As I said over at TW during that time, with Nadal playing like he was, even Davydenko or Gonzo/Murray could have taken him out.

Nadal wins on clay because he is the most aggressive on this surface (more than he is on grass/hc etc). He can move opponents around with his topspin, and that combined with unparalleled defense makes him impossible to beat. The Soderling - Rafa match at F.O looked like a hc match where Nadal was just defending all through and could not get ANY depth on his shots on the majority of the pts. I talked about the Rafa- Soderling match in Rome (which was a very close match despite the scoreline) for that reason. Soderling was swinging freely over there too, but Nadal had depth on his shots and was able to attack Soderling and move him around. The difference in F.O was that Nadal couldn't respond as well for whatever reasons and had to run more which is exactly what he didn't need after playing 4 tournaments with pain. And the evidence of this pain was seen when he signaled to his box in the 3rd and 4th set saying that it hurt to bend properly. Also if assume Nadal's movement was not affected and that he had little or no pain and Soderling beat him fair and square, then why withdraw from queens and wimbledon if his knees didn't bother him? Surely he couldn't have been absolutely fine in 4th round RG and be plagued with pain a week later,while he was resting?

As I said before Soderling was red hot in RG and Nadal didn't bring his A- game in the whole RG campaign and he wasn't at his best physically entering this tournament. Even so 3 of the sets against Soderling were very tightly contested. That should tell us something. Ultimately Rafa played the whole clay season with pain, won a few tournaments, didn't prepare his schedule so as to peak in RG and had the bad luck of meeting a red hot player while he wasn't in best condition (physically, mentally and form-wise). He receieved the ultimate punishment for that. He left the clay season without it's biggest prize (RG) and was forced to quit the grass season and loose his #1, #2.

Finally to answer some posters here who think this is excuse making: Analyzing a match doesn't take anything away from the victor nor does it give an excuse to the loser. Watch the Fed-Delpo match at UsOpen where Fed was clearly dominating Delpo and should have closed the match in straights (barring that lapse in the 2nd set). Does that last win (where Fed made the same mistake as Nadal and got overly defensive) make Delpo a better hc player than Federer? I would say that if Fed is 100% (playing like he usually does), and if we put both of them on a fast hardcourt, Federer would still win a considerable majority of the matches.

Ahh, young apprentice JJ is on the right path. Next lesson: smiling and posing during MTOs ;)

Some people are actually claiming that Djokovic is #3 in the world. I told them to go to tennis.com and see the official ranking. It clearly says that Murray has 1000 points more...people are so ignorant, they never check the official ranking.

imjimmy Good analysis.Another point I would like to make that Rafa's shots in that match with Robin RG 09 werent even clearing the net? very Rafa unlike.Manuel I think posted the same fact.One could see Rafa was labouring from the back of the court.No that is Not a Excuse that is Plain Fact.Even in the s.final in Madrid against Novak Rafa's footwork was labouring.I held grave fears then in that match that his RG crown was in danger.Well the results speak for themselves.Robin played a outstanding match was the worthy winner.Though a 100% fit Rafa on clay against Robin,well lets see.

WTA Luxembourg

Kim d. Megan 6-2, 6-2. Anyone get to see the match? The livestream was not working for me :-(

Next round is Kimmy vs. looping lefty Patty!

imjimmy final word on this subject.Point being Rafa is not a machine.He needs to drop a clay tournament for 2010,eg Barcelona.As he could see the Same old,Same old happening in 2010.

imjimmy: I can't disagree with one word of that. Great post!

arbiter -
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/Singles.aspx

Arbiter,
Per ATP website, Novak is indeed number 3 as points from 2008 Madrid has dropped off MAndy's ranking. Believe tennis.com ranking is a tad behind if MAndy is still number 3.

I am sure Arbiter is being sarcastic. Sure.

Xaira: I've had such a productive day watching tennis!:) Kim looked fabulous....strong and serious. Don't know much about her opponent so I assume the match went as expected. She had the match in her hands the entire time...made me think she'd been out practicing and not resting this past month. (I'm not great at the tech side of tennis, but I can't tell you that I didn't like Kim's outfit!)

can not can't

Vera with the break in the second set. Davai, Verochka, nice and steady, don't lose your head...

Exactly AM. Great post. As I said, that match was not like how Rafa plays on clay. He's most aggressive on clay and he usually dictates play(compared to hc/grass). And it's not like Rafa hasn't lost matches on clay before. He's been pushed by Djokovic/fed the last few years; Federer even won a set by 6-1 in one of their finals and bagelled Nadal in hamburg. Yet in none of the matches did Rafa play like he did against Soderling. I would bet money that Nadal of '05-'06 would have thrashed the Nadal of Rg '09.

Anyway I hope Rafa arrives 100% at RG 2010. That will be a very important tournament for him.

Lynne: Thanks.

Later everyone!

Liron - I see we share the same (dis)taste for some of the various "vulgar oafs" who have inflicted themselves on tennis over the years. Great minds....etc.

Sokol: hope your girl wins. Sadly, tennis is over for me today...real life keeps bangin' on the door!

"Sokol: hope your girl wins"

thanks, Mr. and Mrs. D. :-)

"real life keeps bangin' on the door'

don't you just hate that? :-))

Vera will serve for the match at 5-2. Davai!

Vera has refilled her "tank" and will join Jelena on the toll road on Thursday.

Congrats to Vera. Pironkova is next on her path to Doha...

She should talk to Makiri to give her "extra motivation" for tomorrow's match with ARad :-))

imjimmy, I see you reposted your stuff here, so I'll repost my comment:
_____________________

imjimmmy, there is no doubt that if Fed or Rafa are at (or near) 100%, they aren't going to lose, period. If they play their best against each other, I say Rafa wins the majority of the clay matches and I say Fed wins the majority of the grass/hardcourt matches - but all of them would be close.

The bottom line is, no player (however great) is going to be 100% all of the time. As a matter of fact, great players won't be 100% MOST of the time! Therefore we get back to the 'any given day' thing. What great champions do is get through most of those 'any given day' deals. Great champions will win most of those matches when they aren't their best, but they won't do it all the time.

Was the Nadal at the '09' FO the same as the '08' version? No. I agree. I think Nadal was on fire in '08'. I don't think Fed was near 100% at any of the grand slams this year either, but he won two. And Nadal was not 100% at the ones he played, but he won one.

It is very easy for us KADs to notice when our guys are not moving as well as they can, or not serving as well as they can. Of course, we notice. And of course, we spout the 'if only our guy played like this', he would have easily won. But as I said, no player is 'on fire' every time out. Sometimes the other guy outplayed our guy on the day... ON ANY GIVEN DAY.

I forgot Makiri beat ARad at USO. it'll be interesting tomorrow, as Agnieszka playing well lately and will have extra motivation for Doha

Well Heck, I'm going to repost too!

____________________________________________________

I agree Alexis. In fact I was sitting here thinking that the whole concept of a player being at %100 is a bit laughable. What does that even mean? I can't remember the last time I did anything at 100 % for longer than a few minutes. 100% is the exception, not the expectation.

I was also thinking how it's interesting that there has been so little mention of Davydenko having played a grueling, 3 hour match against Nole the day before the final (and another 3 setter the day before that). A similar scenario to Nadal v. Fed in Madrid, yet Davy came through with the win.

The way someone plays on a given day has a lot to do with the match-up. That's partly why Solderling seemed on fire against Nadal, but not so great against Federer. You can't execute in the same way against vastly different style opponents. It's a rock, scissors, paper situation.

Sokol,
Be nice to Agnieszka as she is tired from making semifinals or better in 3 consecutive tournaments.

Master Ace Gee Justine is going to be a busy bee

Further news just in on our sports radio.Justine is also set to play Medibank as well?

Great post, Pete. So interesting to read about what happened with Ashe and Nastase. Man, no way would any umpire put up with that kind of crap now. Would never happen.

And msf, I remember that J-Mac/Nastase USO match from 1979. I felt so bad for Frank Hammond. The tournament director was sooo wrong to overturn his Nastase default. But it was so weird to see J-Mac be the 'good one' in a match, ha!

In a related topic, there is a show on TTC called "Best of 5" and they had one show about tantrums, etc. They didn't mention the Stockholm incident but they mentioned the USO one with J-Mac and Nastase. They also had a show that mentioned a horrific DC tie with Romania where Ion Tiriac was the biggest jerk. Anyway, the #1 tantrum was Jeff Tarrango and that famous Wimbledon match where he quit and then his wife slapped the umpire!

Alexis - alas, I think imjimmy has left for awhile. FWIW, I think you analysis is excellent and I agree with most of it.

(I posted a bit about what I disagreed with on the last thread. ;-))

"Be nice to Agnieszka as she is tired from making semifinals or better in 3 consecutive tournaments"

I'm nice, MA, I like that girl, but:

1. I want Makiri to do well in front of home crowd (there are many Russian guys that'll appreciate if she'll do well in this tourney :-))
2. Agnieszka needs rest :-)
3. and Vera's interests...

Ah, old Ilie Nastase... those were the days of near unregulated mayhem on court. I recall that players used to have the right to request the removal of line judges, back then in the pre-overrule days, and Nasty used this ploy frequently. The came the overrule, and the elevation of the chair umpire to its lofty status today. And the fall of Rome followed.

Imjimmy was giving a analysis ok.People seem to take that our of context,whatever.Enough said.

Alexis, I completely agree with your 4:00 PM post. Sorry, Nadal KADs... and aussiemarg.

"Liron - I see we share the same (dis)taste for some of the various "vulgar oafs" who have inflicted themselves on tennis over the years. Great minds....etc."

Many thanks, CL. Next time Tim jumps me about something, I'll remind them that CL includes me in the ranks of "great minds." That ought to fix him!

--Liron

I have just gone to Medibank site,no confirmation as yet either for Justine.Though Craig Watson was confident the other day of her playing.

Seeing its just 7.00am here in Sydney,those Queenslanders who refuse to go on daylight saving due to not upsetting their Cows etc.Maybe too early for confirmation.

Alexis 4:00pm, spot on.

Oh, not sorry to any KADs. Unlike like the polite Slice.

Hmmmm another thing we disagree on Slice

If this keeps happening our friendship it seems is going towards the negative.

Analysis is a Theory,geez.

BlueDog and Alexis (repost from yesterday's YC): The whole pt of my previous 2 lengthy posts was that Rafa was having MORE than an off day at RG 09. How do you explain beating a player(Soderling) 6-1, 6-0 and then "after a few weeks" loosing to him in a slam? Did Soderling suddenly change his game or become a different player in such a short time? To anyone who watches Nadal carefully, it was pretty obvious that the player who arrived in RG 09 was not playing like he usually does on clay for whatever reason. ( Which were later revealed as tendinitis as evidenced by Rafa's signaling to his camp during the Soderling match and his subsequent 2+ months break from tennis). Sure, Soderling played courageous/amazing tennis, for the will of great champions is so strong that takes a iconic performance to beat them even when they are not at their best. But let's not be afraid to point out that Rafa was not physically able to perform at his best because of his knees. And his game on that day/entire tournament and the subsequent events showed that. This is MORE than a temporary loss of form or an off-day claim.

Tigress (from the previous YC @ 3:41 PM ): We agree once again (Why am I surprised?) . I really thought that USO 09 was Fed's and deep down I suspect he knows that too, as he was playing his best tennis of the year during the hc fall season. Which is why I think Federer will be even more hungry, and therefore dangerous, in the slams at 2010.
_____________

That's the last I say on this subject. Later folks. Thanks for your thoughts! *Really off*

imjimmy, all I said was the no player is 100% all the time, and that is true.

But all of us know that sometimes our favs are much worse than 100% - maybe more like 60%. I certainly felt that way in a couple of Fed's matches in 2008 and early 2009. And when I see Fed serve 11 DFs like he did in the AO final this year (and normally he might serve maybe 3 a whole tournament!!), I know something is really wrong. But he still went 5-sets with Nadal. So do I think that if Fed had been anywhere near his best that he probably would have beaten Nadal that day? Yeah, I do. But we also know that Nadal had a very tough 5-setter in the semi, so he probably wasn't 100% either.

Nadal won fair-and-square, but as a KAD, I know my guy wasn't anywhere near his best and I know it cost him any chance to win in the 5th set. You feel the same about Nadal and the Soderling match.

Oh, boy a double default. Why did all the good stuff happen before my tennis watching days?
Nice post, Pete.

So, among the three juniors who played in Stockholm, Kuznetsov at least managed to snatch a set off Santoro (who is not retiring this year, btw).

Oh and just so people don't think I always think Fed loses because something is wrong - there was nothing wrong with him when he lost to Tsonga in Canada this summer! He completely blew a 5-1 third set lead - a total head-scratcher. I guess if I wanted to, I could write it off to 'new father syndrome'... but either way, he blew that match all on his own.

Santoro not retiring this year? I thought that I had read that he was!

LOL. Who was hurting how much and when? What does it all mean? Who cares? One day in the life of TW.

Fed won't catch Laver. GOMT (Greatest of My Time) is a bit harder to say than GOAT. But, I can live with it.

And, I don't plan to place a huge bet on the next Rafa-Soderling match. But, if I had to, I'd bet on Rafa...provided that I can chat with his doctor beforehand.

Do the injuries affect anything else?

"Santoro (who is not retiring this year, btw)."

he's not, gh? where did you read that?

Greenhopper,
Heard that about Fabrice returning for another year. Will Marat follow?

Sokol,
Vera vs Tsvetana, Lucie vs Jelena, and Agnieszka vs MaKiri are very difficult matches for the Doha contestants.

Greenhopper Where did you get the news on Santoro not retiring pls?

"Will Marat follow?"

I hope so :-))), but even though he's younger he's not so devoted to tennis as Santoro, IMO, so don't think it'll happen with Marat. It looks like he can't wait to "get out"...

I love this post on my native country. When I first read the title I thought it was going to be on the two ATP players and the Swedish prostitutes. Love Mats, but I think he made a huge mistake when he didn't choose the clay to play against the Americans. I have been on all the Swedish website so I have a pretty good idea who the two players were but it just gossip, so I'll wait until it's actually confirmed. I hope they never release the names of the players, but in Sweden they normally will release the guys names because they view it has a crime for the men, butn't for the the women. Borg was the greatest tennis player to ever pick up a racket. Again, great post Pete. Go Sweden! And get well soon to Scandinavia's#1!

I love this post on my native country. When I first read the title I thought it was going to be on the two ATP players and the Swedish prostitutes. Love Mats, but I think he made a huge mistake when he didn't choose the clay to play against the Americans. I have been on all the Swedish website so I have a pretty good idea who the two players were but it just gossip, so I'll wait until it's actually confirmed. I hope they never release the names of the players, but in Sweden they normally will release the guys names because they view it has a crime for the men, butn't for the the women. Borg was the greatest tennis player to ever pick up a racket. Again, great post Pete. Go Sweden! And get well soon to Scandinavia's#1!

Sorry for not linking. James Martin tweeted this yesterday.

http://twitter.com/JamesHMartin/status/4991617901

Just wanted to add, I hope everyone gets to one day visit Sweden, Sweden is the most beautiful country in the world with some of the most beautiful and gracious people in the world. Blond power baby. LOL!!

Samantha

(1) If it is a crime for the men. Would the women be guilty of aiding and abetting or entrapment? I do not know the law but it seems a bit unbalanced.

(2) What is the point of arresting the men? How can the women make a living if their customers face arrest? Is that not a damper on their career? I can see it helps the women who do not want to be prostitutes and are forced by pimps etc. But what about the women who see it as a good way to make some money, possibly to tide them through a tough time?

(3) It is wrong, then it should be wrong for eveeryone. Could you explain the thinking behind this policy. JUst try to understand the way it evolved. If you have to time.

Alexis, injimmy, Slice, and others,

Must we discuss "Rafa or TMF: Who's the Man" when the subject of this post has NOTHING to do with that increasingly tedious topic? I think it would be courteous, friends, to acknowledge the topic of Bodo's excellent post.

--Liron

Stockholm is beautiful and the summer days divine.
Winter, dunno. Tough.