Russia World Cup Notebook - Day 16

Oh dear! Achilles the cat fumbles

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When a deaf, white, fat Russian cat named Achilles begun his work as the official soothsayer for 2018 World Cup, those who place huge bets on outcome of matches did not expect that his career would hit the rocks just midway through the tournament. On June 26, he incorrectly predicted the outcome of Nigeria’s match against Argentina, spelling financial doom for those who had put money on Nigeria winning Until the, Achilles, had correctly predicted the outcome of matches whenever his “skills” were sought. To make his predictions, the feline chooses between two bowls of food, each bearing a team flag.

Keep right when walking on streets

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Moscow residents consider it rude for one to keep left when walking on pavements. It is an unwritten rule that pedestrians using the same pavement walk on the right hand side, leaving the left side for those in a hurry ‘to use for overtaking’ and for oncoming pedestrians. Long climbing and descending escalators are common in metro stations (subways) in Moscow and when using them, it is considered rude for one to occupy the whole width. Even when the escalators are moving, one is expected to stand to the right hand side, leaving the left side for overtaking.

Udomlya, Russian lake that never freezes

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Russia is a vast country which experiences extreme weather, with temperatures sometimes dropping to -30 in winter. During winter, rivers and lakes completely freeze but Lake Udomlya is an exception. Located to the north west of Moscow in Russia’s tourist city of Tver Oblast, Lake Udomlya never freezes completely even when the temperature drops to -30 or below because of a nearby Kalinin Nuclear Power Station which uses water from the lake to cool down its nuclear reactors. Water exiting the plant is not radioactive but it is hot enough to prevent large parts of the lake from freezing.

Viewership record

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Of all 2018 Fifa World Cup matches played so far, Colombia's 3-0 victory over Poland on Thursday attracted the biggest television audience among fans back in the two countries. On Thursday, TV audiences grew as Spain and Portugal both ensured qualification to the round of 16. According to Fifa, an average audience of more than 13.60 million watched Poland's second match of the tournament against Colombia on TVP 1 and TVP Sport which are television channels owned by TVP, Poland's national broadcaster. These figures exceeded the live match audience recorded for the contest between Poland and Senegal (11.13 million).

The match between Colombia and Poland has become the second most watched at a Fifa World Cup after the final of 1998 Fifa World Cup in France (13.8 million viewers).