Today is our last day in Finland and there has been very few internet connections available. A larger post will follow once we return home tomorrow. In the meantime, we have had an incredible week full of cross country skiing, snow, snow and more snow.
It hasn’t been as cold as we were hoping, today it is -18 but we were expecting -30 at the very least. No Northern lights as yet but not through lack of trying.
Anyway, I am back to my reindeer and blue cheese pizza for now. One great thing about the cold and all this exercise is no worries about the carbs. Excellent!
This week we have been in the grip of an Arctic freeze coming down from the north. Temperatures for the last week have rarely gone above freezing in Bristol. Up in Scotland they recorded -22 somewhere.
We really only had an overnight dump of snow but it was fantastic. However once the snow stops, the slush starts and when this becomes frozen, the problems start. The sidewalks are slick with ice. The street where we park our car is a sloping ice rink. Yesterday we went to check the car to see if it would start for Friday going to work. During the 5 minutes we were there two cars slid right past us and into the intersection. One hit another vehicle. It was a very bizarre sight, almost as if in slow motion. Thankfully no one was hurt. I called the council to get the road gritted but to no avail. I think only 2 accidents on a street is a low priority to them at the moment?
The up side to snow days are working from home (although as it is freezing at home during the day I am not quite convinced this was a real up side) and frolicking in the snow. Ok, that’s the best up side.
So, here are some photos of us frolicking with our flatmate, snowman building and of course snowball fights.
2009 has to be the first time in at least 12 years that we have not seen our traditional Boxing Day movie. We chose to visit Kerryn instead (do you feel special) 
We did however catch it a couple of days later. Sherlock Holmes staying Robert Downey Jnr (Sherlock) and Jude Law (Watson). I am not sure if I should admit to this but I truly have NEVER read a Sherlock Holmes tale or even seen a tv or film movie version. I was more a Trixie Beldon/Nancy Drew reader.
If Guy Ritchie’s intention is to sell Sherlock to the new breed of viewers today then I personally think he is on to a winner. Sherlock was soooooo not of interest to me as a teenager. This one I could get into. Loved the continual profiling and the re-run situations where Sherlock runs through a sequence of events to get out of a pickle and then you see it in full action again. Very cool. I know the critics are booing it big time. Chumps.
It has got me interested in seeing some more of this Sherlock! 3.5 out of 5.
With 5 hours to go until the Noughties are gone (can I just say, thank goodness!) and the next decade is upon us. (08/01 well technically we haven’t finished the decade until the end of 2010) Seriously, what did the Noughties do for us in regards to yet more X Factor music trash, Big Brother crud and a revisit to 80’s fashion (please it was tragic the first time around). What it did bring however was a far more interesting (in a good way) US president to watch and ????
Anyway, here is a summary of what we have been up to for 2009 at least. From Steve finishing his 7×7x7 Endurance Life half marathons, trips to France and Italy, catching up with mates, slacklining, indoor skiing, bouldering, a wedding, Christmas parties and me starting to enjoy running, it has been a strange year. It wasn’t until I looked back at our photos that I realised, actually we have been up to a bit but for some reason the year has felt so slow. Oh how quickly we forget.
Can you believe after all the waiting and looking forward to it, Christmas is now over and the madness begins. Sale season. I went into Cabot Circus today to do a few bits and pieces before heading back to work and by the time I left there were mile long queues of traffic waiting to park. Madness.
Over Christmas we managed to get away for two days before Steve had to get back to work. During our two days away we also caught up with some friends. One currently living in Wales and the other, Kerryn, our Australian mate who came with us to England at the very start of it all. She has now moved to the UK for a couple of years to work/travel. We head to Finland with Kerryn soon. Woo hoo!
Other than this it has been a rather non-eventful week. Work Christmas parties came and went. The snow has long since melted but the icy mornings linger. I think I have come down with a cold as well which is not that delightful seeing as I am back to work tomorrow.
We hope you all had a great Christmas and wish you all the best for 2010.
Yee hah. It doesn’t look like we are getting anymore snow tonight but it was fun while it lasted.
The latest James Cameron movie to hit the box office and wow was it amazing! I totally forgot at times about the computer graphics.
Humans have been shipped to another planet, Pandora, where they are mining for a very lucrative mineral. The only problem is that a clan of indigenous people, the Na’vi, live on top of the area the company wishes to mine. The Na’vi who have a special connection with their environment have no intention of leaving their home. So if we look at our past and even current history, we can easily imagine what comes next. To get to know the Na’vi, avatars have been created. These are genetically grown bodies in the form of the Na’vi but controlled by humans back on base.
Incredible graphics, excellent score, wonderful story, cast and imaginative environment. Running at just over 2.5 hours it was epic but didn’t feel tiresome or long winded at all. Fabulous movie. 4.5out of 5.
Just finished this book the other day. Another beautifully told story following Mitch’s quest to write the eulogy for his Rabbi. Having drifted away from the Jewish faith and its community the call from his Rabbi to provide the eulogy when the time came, was an unexpected one.
Mitch and the Reb ponder many issues over the eight years until the time comes to give the eulogy. You can’t help but smile at the journey that happens during this time for these two men and the intersecting story of Mitch and Henry, the Pastor of “I am my brothers keeper” ministries. I find that Mitch’s writing gets you so involved with the story that you can’t help but dread the end. I knew what was coming but it didn’t make it any easier to finish the book. This was a great reflective read that I know I will revisit time and again just as I do his other books “Tuesdays with Morrie”. “Five people you meet in Heaven” and “Just one more day”. As Mitch writes in his blog (a link to his website is below) “the spirit of the book “Have A Little Faith” is that faith can be what connects us instead of what divides us.”
Have a little Faith – Mitch Albom
December is here already. How did that creep up on me??? Proudly I can say that the nephews gifts are on their way to Oz, overseas Christmas cards have been written by yours truly and posted thanks to my lovely husband. Next comes the preparation for the work Christmas party. I am a bit of a Grinch when it comes to these things. I really find it stressful having to get all “girlified” and if I going to have to do it I would rather channel the elegance and class of Hepburn or Kelly. I think elegance is so much more appealing than bare boobs and legs. At least pick one to put on show, both is just plain scary. Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly were stunning, captivating women that, for me, exude both femininity and strength. Where did we lose that as women upon our journey? Have we lost it? We seem to spend so much time trying to physically equal ourselves with men and not celebrating and promoting the skills we bring to the table (no, I don’t literally mean the dining table, get over it!) We seem to be keen to push aside our own unique qualities and replace them with masculine traits. Then, we have the gall to expect our men to understand what we want when we continue to demean them and wear away at the qualities that make them complimentary to us.
So, for the sake of glamming it up, let it be to channel the awesomeness that was Hepburn and Kelly.
I just finished reading “A little history of the world” by E H Gombrich. It is basically a history book for kids. Written in 1935 by a Austrian art historian it was originally produced in German. More recently it was re-released in English.
I really enjoyed it as an easy read. It focused on European history (from pre-historic to modern day) mainly as this is what has impacted him most plus doing a history of the whole world would surely mean years worth of reading.
Of course when it was first written back in 1935 there was a lot that wasn’t known at the time. However, in the recent English update he has added a last chapter correcting errors he had made now with hindsight to his advantage. I liked that. Often we think history is set in stone but it is only with distance from something that we can begin to understand particular motivations or situations differently.
I will be keeping this book on my shelf not for reference for historical facts but to see how history continues to be rounded and understood the further we move away from that point.
