End of January 2010!!!

The one in red in the important one!! The legend that is James Willstrop

Time flies when you're having fun. Yes, as cliche as it sounds, for some reason it feels like time is moving faster than it normally does. It's hard to believe its been 10 years since 2000 for example. We are a unique generation who has indeed lived through the millenium and for me it's unbelievably weird to meet apparent adults, say 18 or 19 who are born in the 90's- what the hell?! Am I really that old? I didn't think so....

One thing that really got on my tits this week was this Australian Open tennis crap. Not only is tennis a shite sport, with overpaid, talentless people making millions, the hype surrounding this latest tournament is beyond me. You see England hasn't had a good tennis player since Fred Perry. Just to let you know, they still don't have one. England has this misconception that when the UK has a reasonable talent we have to steal as much of the identity as we can. The man in question is Andy Murray, who is Scottish, about as English as Greg Rusedski....erm wait there a minute (for those that don't know he is also 'British' despite being born in the french part of Canada- yup go figure). Mr. Murray has found his way to the final of this tournament and everyone knows about it.

However did you know that a true Englishman (well he's from Yorkshire, but we will let him off) has just won what is to be considered a 'grand slam' in squash- one of the biggest squash tournaments of the year. Called the Tournament of Champions, held in Central Station in New York, the name you need to remember is James Willstrop. On his route to glory, he beat 3 recent world no. 1's including the present one (in the final). Does anyone know who he is? Does he get any credit? Well does anyone also know England has 6 of the top 13 best squash players in the world? That is something to celebrate- for one, they are English, not Scottish and two they are all true world class athletes, who put in the hours and get almost zero reward. True sportsmen who deserve some recognition. The English women aren't half bad either, with 3 being in the top 9.

I'm not bitter (much) but it's funny that England has some genuinly talented people who they fail to recognize, then they take what they can. Go Andy Murray......only kidding, I would love to see Roger Federer wipe the floor with you, but hey, who knows what can happen.

Just to give you some more perspective here- our 2nd best male tennis player is a guy called Alex Bogdanovic (English too right?!) and he's ranked 171 in the world. Need I say more.

Well not a whole lot to say besides my little gripe. We've had another 30 cm of snow (at least) and it's still pretty cold. The boarding plans are to go soon, so fresh pow here I come.

Had my teeth butchered, I mean cleaned, today. This was part two of the hygienist visit. In summary English dentists are shit. If you want to know more just ask.

On a better note it looks as though my first ever science paper will be published soon. One minor minor correction then Bob's your Uncle.

Seems a nice time to stop writing. I looked up one of my favourite English bands as they disappeared off the radar for a bit. It's not a bad tune, so for those who don't know (as in everyone), here's InMe, with their newest single off their newest album, called Single of the weak:

A week in Sälen

It was colder but I couldn't take a picture when I was driving!!

Our place on the left

Well it's over. No, not life. Not the winter. Just our snowboarding trip. Now firstly, I've seen all over the news in UK how cold it's been. You have no idea what cold is. It's amazing how a country can come to a complete standstill after a few minus degrees. Every year it happens and every year it's the same. Why does no-one do anything about it? Well, that's the UK, no wait, that's England for you. Scotland keeps working, so what's going wrong? Well a crap infrastructure is to blame, yes and no. If you have what Sweden has, would it be different? I mean winter tyres. I'm guessing everything would be the same. Yes, I slip and slide in my car everyday, but the country doesn't shut down just because we get metres of snow, yes not the 5cm that brings the country to a grinding halt.

The average temperature for the week, similar to the rest of Sweden, has been around -20 to -25. Yes, everything carries on, yes, we were out riding every day, yes we went for evening walks, yes, it was bloody cold. The 'record' day was on Wednesday or Thursday (the temperature difference wasn't that noticeable) but was -35 when we were out on the slopes. So UK, you think -5 is cold? Hmmm....try a frostbiten face and toes after sitting for seconds on a chairlift. No, this isn't the temperature after windchill either, this is the actual temperature. The lowest in Sweden on this day was -41. Seriously, you really can't imagine. So don't bloody moan that the roads are icy and slippery. Come over here and give it a go.

Well the weather report is over. My posts point- the week has been just awesome. Despite my downstairs area packing up its balls and leaving because of the cold, the snow and mountain was superb. I have to say a big thanks to J's dad, who provided the accomodation- a luxury wooden house, with full stone fireplace, large sauna, awesome underfloor heating, all conveniently located right on the slopes. A real special place, cosy and bundles of charm, with 2 full bathrooms with showers and a third toilet downstairs. There were (eventually) 8 of us and 2 dogs, with room a plenty. Not only was the location of our wooden lodge on the mountain, the slopes around us were fantastic too. Designated as 'black' runs, at the far western point of the mountain, not many people ventured (probably through fear of the slope). So we had it pretty much to ourselves, despite not one bed being available in the whole ski resort.

Personally, my riding legs were accustomed pretty quick. As I told Johanna, her riding by the last couple of days was the best I've ever seen. So other people beware, she is getting really good now. Something new for me, although not snowboard related, was cross country skiing. Yes, you heard me right. The thing is, this type of skiing is massively popular over here and in Europe really. When you say to someone I'm going on a ski trip, you have to specify whether it's utförsåkning or längdskidåkning, basically cross country skiing or downhill skiing. This is a weird concept for me (and English people) as we would never ever ever consider cross country skiing as part of a ski trip. Probably because we don't really know anything about it and what we see on Eurosport (usually what we call the biathlon, with the gun) looks painful.

And so this proved to be the case. I am not a skier, I didn't wish to do intense cardio exercise in -25. Nevertheless it happened. Dressed in my snowboarding gear, so looking like a fool in terms of the cross country skiing world, I strapped on these super light, super thin, edgeless skis. It was a mission. You follow these perfect parallel tracks up and down, round and round on a set course, where we were, either 3, 5 or 6 km (something like that, may have been a 4 km too). We chose the 3 km, no surprises there. After being breezed passed by a few local pro's, we got the hang of it, doing our imitation sliding squat things, running up the hills and holding on for dear life on the downhill bits. So what's to say? Well I didn't fall over once. Impressive? Yes!I also ended up looking like a proper hardcore skier- having a snow beard, all white and frozen. What else? Well, we ended up doing the 3 km lap twice, yup, awesome. The day after, well now as well my groin feels like I've been doing squats for 4 months. Anyway, was a nice experience and yes, I probably will punish myself again next time. In the mean time, I'll stick to boarding.

Well I'm bored of writing now. But a week of fun, despite the cold cold temps. Good food, good company, think I'm getting used to the Skaraborgska (Especially after my last post!! If J says 'gött' again, I shall kill her...this is a Swedish joke). Can't wait to ride again......just not sure when it will happen : (

p.s. We saw 2 Bernese mountain dogs there, fit the winter wonderland perfectly, funny to seem them sliding all over the snow.

An interesting last week or so

So the usual Xmas and NY thing has been laid to rest for another year. Another Xmas for me, spent sitting there like a lemon, not understanding much of what the hell is going on. Yes, it appears I am linguistically challenged. For despite understanding (practically) everything around me in Uppsala, at work etc, as soon as I take that first step out of the car in Skövde, it's like I've landed on a new planet.

Much like northern monkeys in England, the regional accents are painfully different. I literally cannot hear the sounds, just a sea of mumbling. The only saving grace is sitting around 5 year old kids, as the elders speak properly and clearly to this forsaken bunch. It's potentially not a problem with my inability to hear these strange sounds, for the accent I have an 'ear' for is the Uppsala/Stockholm area, meaning the 'proper' Swedish. Much like anywhere north of say Oxford in England (minus some areas), the accents become, in a word, retarded. It's not the same anywhere, just a vast mishmash of weird dialects and accents, the one that really gets on my tits is the northern 'the'. Yes folks, even people who 'speak English' cannot even say this little word. I know Swedes struggle with the 'th' sound, it becomes more of a 'da', or at least my significant other, when being lazy, starts sounding like a Jamaican. However, the select northern people then refer to 'the' as 't' in the phonetic saying of the letter, yes, very very special.

Anyways, my lingo problems continue, something I shall further address this year.......

Another non event has been the last 5 days. Like a lot of unfortunate souls, I've had crazy fever, aches and pains, tiredness and worst of all, Niagra Falls out of my arse. It's subsided now, just in time for my boarding holiday to Sälen (yes, seems 'convenient' I know, but trust me, I've been sick as a dog). So no New Year for me, I heard it from my bed, that counts right?!

In other more general boring, lets just write something, type of thing, it's been cold here and snowing for a while now. It's strange when you can't get in your car because the doors are ice-welded shut. The lowest my thermometer reading has been was -18. All I can say is thank f**k for heated seats. The weather topic is immensely boring, I know. But it's beautiful here, really it is. Everything is white, the sun is out and it's crispy crispy noodles, just awesome.

Today is packing day then, getting all my boarding stuff together. I shall take the camera and the video camera, hopefully can manage to convert the video files to something able to put on here. After all, we don't want to miss J boarding right : )

I've lost the writing thought severly now. Just want to say a quick thanks for the Xmas presents from everyone. There's always bizarre things in the news that make me laugh. Such ridiculous things on BBC, that suggested if you take a walk on Xmas day, after all the food, you would burn off calories and feel better- reported in the British Medical Journal or something. No shit. True science that is. Honestly.

I'm not in to all this celebraty crap, but an interesting comment on Sky news about the Brittany Murphy death at 32 (I think): 'A state coroner said Murphy appears to have died from natural causes but other reports have said she suffered a cardiac arrest'. What the hell is a natural cause, especially at 32?! No suspicion there.

Just to let you know, the huge snowman is where we will be staying (well not in the snowman) but at Lindvallen in Sälen.

Well no educational summary, no clever jokes or puns for the start of 2010. Just get on with it, as before you know it, 2011 will be here.