When Santa Claus almost got stranded ...
12/24/2020
It was December 24th. As every year, the Santas at the headquarters in Rovaniemi were allocated their cars, the presents for delivery and the destination areas. And our Santa set off in high spirits. He had been told that his car had been improved and optimized - after all, they were moving with the times, what with CO2 neutrality and all.
In fact, his car felt different. The acceleration was stupendous, the engine couldn't be heard at all. But our Santa didn't give it a second thought and drove through the Finnish forests towards the south. Until he suddenly stopped. "What's wrong?" he asked himself. As a technically savvy person, he immediately opened the hood ... and was startled. There was no real combustion engine to be seen, just a gray block and lots of cables, plus high-current warnings. Slowly it dawned on Santa. He was driving an electric car, or at least he had been until then. But where on earth could he find a wallbox in the middle of the snowy Finnish forests that could provide him with the necessary electricity? There was not a soul to be seen for miles around, let alone a charging station.
Santa began to despair and silently curse about modern technology: "In the old days, yes in the old days, there was ...."
But that was as far as they got. Suddenly, bright beams of light pierced the darkness and several vehicles approached, growling. They stopped when they saw the stranded Santa Claus with his important cargo.
"Can we help?"
Santa now recognized the men, who were no longer quite so young, who had rushed up in their snow-suitable cars.
One was called Hannu Mikkola, the second Rauno Aaltonen and the third was called Marcus Grönholm. They were all rally drivers and they came just in time!
"Yes, of course," said Santa Claus, "I have to get down south as quickly as possible to deliver the presents".
Hannu, Rauno and Marcus didn't hesitate for long. They packed the colorful packages into their rally cars. Mikkola offered Santa the passenger seat in his Audi quattro. "I need a navigator to make sure the presents get to the right place," he mumbled. Aaltonen climbed into his Mini, Grönholm into the Peugeot 206, and off they went.
This was no longer CO2-neutral, but at least the eagerly awaited Christmas presents reached their destination faster than ever before ...