Keep calm and carry on

So, another new year, more snow, cross-country skiing and wondering at exactly what point in life did I gain this mostly seamless understanding of which and how many layers to put on to survive a given level of cold...

On the other hand, this year seems to have started at absolutely break-neck speed. Leaving me a little breathless already. It's surprising in a way that for the first time I can remember we are barely through January and it already feels like 2023's been going on for a while. Not sure that's a good sign :(.

Either way, to focus on one of the better things about life at the moment, the snow!! It did end up snowing a bunch, a couple of times this month, leading to a reasonably good amount of cross-country skiing so far. Although the fresh snow has stayed away for a bit over a week and the temperature flitting between positive and negative values on a daily basis has left things rather hard and icy. Maybe there will some more of the good stuff before too long :).

There's been a little bit of travelling too! Back to Stockholm for work, and this time I got the chance to actually look around a little bit! It felt quite different from the other Nordic capitals I've being to. Oslo, Helsinki, Reykjavik and even Copenhagen to some extent feel decidedly small and laid back in comparison! I suppose what I'd really like is to be able to go back in the spring, or maybe summer. I keep getting told winter doesn't really show the city's best side :).

There was also a very brief but fun weekend trip back to the UK for a belated celebration. Pleasantly, the entire travel situation worked beautifully and without a hitch. Except of course some amount of panic getting to Oslo airport on Friday evening as the train services decided to descend into chaos. We managed to get to the gate pretty well in time in the end, only to have to wait because the flight was delayed. Reason? The flight crew, who were coming in from Oslo got delayed because of the same train issues :D.

In general though, I feel life has been somewhat busier than I'd like it to be. Mostly, if not entirely, because of work. I mean, I realize it's always better to be busy at work rather than have nothing to do, but still. I think I appreciate having a bit of headspace to be able to reflect on things. Plan, consider, evaluate. At the moment all I seem to have space for is plunging headlong through an unending and seemingly insurmountable list of things to get done. But this too shall pass, and in the meantime, I'm trying to keep calm and carry on :).

Naturally, reading has been happening a bit less. Even missed the monthly book club meeting for the first time in years. When I have had the time though, The Hydrogen Sonata has been providing me with a welcome escape. I'm about half way through and things are warming up :). Sadly, I'm reading this with the nearly constant thought in the back of my head that this is the last one.

I have been wondering if/when I'm going to go looking for the rest of the stuff by Banks. I'm not sure. I think I'm quite happy that a lot of the astute if cynical views he has (had?) on life are presented in the mostly benevolent and benign context if the Culture. Not sure I want to go delving into it all without that comforting blanket.

In another attempt to bring some light-hearted balance to life, we've started watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, and loving it! I've been aware of it for a long time, but never thought to make an effort. The first season was un-dubbed, and great fun to watch, but turns out the next two are only available on our chosen streaming service with Norwegian audio. It's no great impediment, we even get most of the jokes, but given that some of the characters are dubbed with somewhat strong west coast accents/dialects, it's a little more effort :). I guess there's a way to go before we feel as comfortable in Norwegian as we do in English...

I almost forgot! I did actually also finish reading the book club book for this month! And it was one of my suggestions! But one I had picked more or less at random from the fantasy racks at the library. So it was with some curiosity that I started The Starless Sea. It was certainly worth the time :). Weird and wonderful is probably an apt way of describing it. The author certainly seems to have an amazing imagination.

While the story itself was interesting, and the world it was set in extremely diverse and intriguing, I'm not sure what to make of the individual characters. With the possible exception of Madam Love and Kat, I wouldn't say I ever really warmed to any of the rest of them. They felt more like placeholders for the story and the author's tools rather than actual people.

(While trying to remember some character names, I also stumbled across this! :D. So, I don't agree with the overall view that the book was unreadable and a waste of time. However, I do very much love the way she describes the book. Felt accurate. And extremely funny :).)

Right. So.... There's actually a lot to look forward to in the next month! Visitors, downhill! (Downhill! Snowboarding!) And finally that trip back to India. But in the mean time, keeping calm and carrying on.

The one where we could go places and see people again!

Right, where shall we begin?! This month has been crazy and happening enough, let alone the year :). In a good way. Mostly. I guess starting with December itself, it's been a properly white lead up to Christmas here! Although we did, after a gap of a couple of years, manage to finally spend Christmas this year with family in the UK! And continued the tradition of returning home on New Year's Eve. With a minimum of fuss as well, I'm happy to report :).

The trip to the UK was also a pleasant getaway from the unusually chilling temperatures hereabouts earlier in the month. The deep freeze was accompanied by some although not a lot of snow around us unfortunately. And while we've been away it looks like it's rained a bunch and turned things somewhat icy and wet :(. Oh well, now that we're back, maybe it'll get cold and start snowing again!

While in the UK though, in amongst the food and the merrymaking and enjoying the open fireplace, walks, more food and so on, a new family activity was embarked upon with great enthusiasm! A patched blanket was to be made, and we all decided to pitch in with the knitting (and in one case crocheting)! A large number of us were complete or at least relative novices, so the results were suitably wonky, at least to start with :D. In the end though, it all seemed to come together pretty well! Not sure this will turn into a regular activity, but I did find it really relaxing!

Relaxing feels like something I rather needed a lot. Although maybe not in quite the same desperate sort of way like the previous few years... The latter half of the year has felt pretty crazy busy with work. Things have changed, are changing, and in all likelihood will continue to change. Somethings hopefully for the better, others maybe not so much. Rather like life in general. But it does feel like the complete break from work has been much needed and very helpful. There's of course still a day more of holiday to go before that needs to change :).

Speaking of break, another highlight of the last month has been the weekend trip to Bergen! While it wasn't entirely spur of the moment, much of the planning was pretty on the fly :). We decided to take the overnight trains there and back instead of flights. Mostly to good effect :). Met up with some friends to catch a particularly special concert and also catch up (although some couldn't make it thanks to a bad combination of weather and flights :(). 

Enjoyed walking around the city. Went up to Fløyen and enjoyed a very relaxed lunch. Walked down a very snowy track again. Enjoyed visiting the amazing Pepperkakebyen, the Christmas market and generally just ambling around or hiding from the cold in a café :). Ended our stay in perfect fashion at one of the seafood restaurants by the waterfront before catching the train back.

Ended up following the World Cup final in between, with the best possible result ever :). No, didn't keep to my plan of not watching any matches in the end and did watch a few of the Argentina ones.

Looking back, there has actually been quite a bit of travelling since the spring. I've spend at least some time abroad every month since May. Including many new places (and countries) I'd never been to before! Which feels crazy given the last couple of years. It still feels a little unreal planning travel. It was of course amazing to be able to see family a bit more often again, and in some cases for the first time in years. But some pandemic induced habits will probably be good to keep in mind going forward.

When it comes to books I guess it's definitely been a big sci-fi year. While the Culture series has kept me occupied and enthralled since summer, earlier in the year came the unforgettable encounters with Dune and the Remembrance of  Earth's Past trilogy. There have of course also been other books, some more intriguing than others.

I did finish reading Lessons in Chemistry and while the end was nice, my feelings about it (beyond what I've already written in last month's post) seem to have been lost in the intervening month. I guess Surface Detail looms large in my mind right now having just finished reading it earlier today.

Having noted that Matter was the longest Culture novel I'd read up to that point, it was immediately superseded :). Unlike the former though, I had no trouble getting into Surface Detail whatsoever! And while it definitely starts with a bang, it doesn't particularly fizz out at any point either!

I have to say, even accounting for proximity bias, I really did rather enjoy the ending of this one :). Much more so than that of Matter. Sure, not all the t's are crossed and i's are dotted, but let's face it, this is Banks, so they never are. There is, regardless, a genuine sense of closure. Especially with the revelation right at the end! I mean, who says he doesn't do recurring characters :D.

Having now got pretty close to the end of the series, I feel less of my initial amazement at how different each of the novels feel despite being set within the same universe. But is that purely because the last two books I've read are a mix of the many different things from before? Who knows. Not that it makes the reading any less enjoyable. And there's still the last one to read :).

I do feel the magnitude of the loss Ian Banks' death has left is beginning to hit me. I hadn't actually realized how soon after finishing The Hydrogen Sonata he passed :(.

So looking back on the year then. Has it been a good one? In many ways, yes. But in some ways sad too. I suppose just like every other year, and yet unlike every other year. I feel like I'm repeating myself :). Is it a phase of life thing? I vaguely remember all these "best year ever", or "a year like no other" type posts in the past. And now it's like "same same but different" :P. Maybe I am just getting older :D.

There's been a lot more travel, but a fair bit less exercise. Lots more seeing family, but some meetings tinged with sadness. This was also the year when I became Norwegian, but "stopped" being Indian. All in all, I think it has been a good year. One that leaves me looking forward to the next trip around the sun. Hopefully some cross-country skiing. Hopefully some downhill too! And finally that much delayed trip back to India!