The football World Cup is over, but fortunately the Saaremaa Opera Days continue, so anyone who wants to enjoy a grand spectacle in the company of famous people can still do so. Spain won the World Cup final, but who will win the Opera Days — and the entire summer, now roughly halfway through — will become clear over the next month and a half.

Summer is likely the only season people want to win; the other seasons could just as well end in a draw.

Anyone who managed to take a vacation this summer and didn't let it go to waste can consider themselves a winner. If you managed at least one trip, however short; got some sun at the beach; did a bit of home renovation on rainy days; and cursed how absurdly expensive it is to eat and drink out in Estonia or stay in a hotel in a beach town — then you can count this summer as a win.

Entrepreneurs focused on summer income — feeding, watering, housing and entertaining tourists and confused locals — can also consider themselves winners if they managed to keep their heads above water, avoid bankruptcy, and convince customers that the prices they charge are reasonable and that you won't get anything better for that money anyway.

And if the restaurants on Tallinn's Town Hall Square are as empty on a warm summer day as they were during the harsh COVID era, then the blame lies with the state's tax policy and the absurd fact that the world has many travel destinations with much cheaper prices than Estonia.

A situation where both customers and entrepreneurs can consider themselves winners is probably when customers return to work with a few euros of vacation money left, and entrepreneurs have managed to take all the rest.

But as rich people say, money isn't everything. Indeed, wins and losses don't always have to be measured in euros. Summer sunrises and sunsets can be admired by the sea for free, you don't need a ticket to go mushrooming or berry‑picking in the forest, and many events have taken place — and will take place — where entry is completely free. I myself went to the Tagaranna Literature Day on Saaremaa this summer; they gave me a ticket but didn't ask for money, and it was a wonderful day with thoughtful speakers and a lovely audience. Everyone won and no one lost. The same will happen in August at the Pärnu Literature Festival.

So you can emerge from summer as a winner whether your victory is financial or whether you don't count everything in euros and cents.

Speaking of this summer's winners and losers, we can't ignore the presidential election that begins in late August, which may bring many losers — or maybe not — but will certainly bring one winner whose glow the parties chasing victory in the parliamentary elections will try to benefit from.

How could the public feel like winners after the presidential election? Probably if we get a full‑value show in a short time — or rather, completely free. If the presidential election turns out as tedious as the World Cup final, that would be unfortunate, and in a broader sense it wouldn't be much of a win.

Half the summer is still ahead, though pessimists might say half is already gone. There are still plenty of opportunities to collect wins and losses, and plenty of chances to emerge as a winner in the end. The good thing about summer is that everyone has a chance to win, and no victory has to mean someone else loses. Summer is a lottery where everyone wins — even those who aren't elected president, or rather, especially those who aren't.

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