Sledging

The patch of cold weather during the last couple of weeks appears to be behind us. This evening is very mild here in Stavanger. However the photograph of our neighbourhood kids racing down the long hill where we live shows how superbly snowy it was two weeks ago. We rushed out and bought a sledge, a really super-duper one for two people that has skis on the bottom, brakes and a steering wheel (really!)

Unfortunately it took me an evening to bolt it together and so we missed one day of sledging. When I tested it with my younger daughter the next day, I discovered too late that I had not bolted the steering wheel on correctly. It came off in my hands rather like something out of a slapstick movie. Fortunately, I was able to direct the fast moving, uncontrolled vehicle into a hedge and nobody was hurt.

After the snow came the ice, the blackest I have ever seen. Fortunately we had already switched the car to winter tyres at the end of October and so were prepared for it. It is highly recommended to drive gingerly at this time of year, especially since pedestrians have an unhappy tendancy to wear dark clothes. The other evening, in the pitch black of 6pm, my headlights picked out a pair of white shoes waltzing across a zebra crossing with no visible body attached. The person was almost completely dressed in black. Lucky for both of us they had those shoes on.