Life, or something like it.: Of snow, sunshine, slopes and tracks

Tuesday, 26 January 2016

Of snow, sunshine, slopes and tracks

What qualifies as a good start to a year?

Yes, a bit of an odd question maybe, and more of a 'popped into my head just this minute' sort of thing rather than a 'I've been pondering this for a while' kind. Maybe because I thought back to the long New Year weekend spent in rather spectacular fashion up in a cabin surrounded by valleys and woods increasingly enveloped by fresh snow. And suddenly it felt like that was a very long time ago :).

January's almost gone! And suddenly I'm wondering when it is that one might consider a year to be well and truly under way, rather than having just begun? Yeah, I'm full of these questions today, ones without answers. :) So maybe we'll go back to the more usual 'this is what I've been up to the last few weeks' format. And speaking of weeks, I think I've more or less settled in on the more sporadic posting. I'm blaming it on the luxury of being able to leave the laptop at work in the evenings and the lack of a properly usable PC at home. Not a bad problem to have, to be perfectly honest. :)

Right, that weekend up in the hills then! I have to say that has to be one of the more memorable ways to usher in the new year for me in the recent past! Sipping champagne in a heated outdoor jacuzzi in the midst of falling snowflakes and bursts of fireworks from across the valley. :) Not to mention the sheer volumes of snow that descended on us for the three or so days! A few walks in the snow and one trip out on cross-country skis punctuated an otherwise leisurely time spent relaxing by the wood fire, playing board games, enjoying lovely food or the aforementioned jacuzzi. :D

Since then there's even been some proper snow in Asker! So much so that we managed a fair number of cross country skiing trips right here! And I have to say I'm beginning to get the hang of moving my feet independently while sliding on snow. :) It's not so bad really, just very very different from snowboarding downhill!

Speaking of which, We managed to kick off the season's snowboarding rather properly as well, with one trip to Kongsberg and another to Tryvann. These being the more close-by locations where I learned to snowboard to start with. Somehow though, in the last couple of years I've spent hardly any time on those slopes, so it was nice to have the chance to compare. There's something of a world of difference now compared to my first attempts from back in 2008. Some of the formerly formidable, almost death defying slopes now seem positively mild! :)

It's been rather properly cold too! The last few weeks were hitting -12/15 degrees quite regularly, but now the mercury's headed north. Sadly that probably means much of this lovely snow's going to disappear. Might call for some cautious driving too. :) One hopes normal winter service will resume shortly.

I'm generally rather averse to New Year's resolutions. Never quite saw the point of them. But there are things I'd like to do this year. Maybe read a little more. Since moving back to a more settled sort of life (read: travelling a lot less), I've rather stopped giving much time to the Kindle. But then there aren't quite so many opportunities to meander around airport book shops either. :)