Sunday 27 February 2011

Back on the slopes

5 months since my operation and I decided it's time to try snowboarding again. On a total whim, I went with  a friend to the southernmost ski resort in Sweden, VallĂ„sen. It's a very small resort, with only a ~120m worth of altitude, and sitting not far off sea level. Most of the snow there was artificial, yet no worse than conditions I have typically been in, in Australia. With some last minute shopping on Friday night I picked up a pair of wrist-guards to ensure I didn't break my wrist again. After spending many hours researching what to get and where to get them I ended up just grabbing pretty much the only pair in my size available anywhere in Copenhagen. Thankfully, they did the trick! Though in actual fact, I didn't really test them out too much and spent most of the day on my feet, which was a pleasant change. I think perhaps I am finally getting a bit better, have a bit more confidence, and despite how I thought I would feel, I'm less nervous about falling now that my hands are protected!

Anyway, a great day was had by all (short of sore leg muscles the following day), and now I'm ready to hit the Alps!

Sunday 20 February 2011

'tis better to have discovered rubbish, than to never have discovered at all

I don't know what it is about frozen ocean that fascinates me so much,
but it just does.
I'm going to begin with a tangent to a tangent here. The first tangent is the title of this entry, the tangent to the tangent is that up until now I had always quoted the real words from the quote as coming from Shakespeare, thinking it was from Romeo & Juliet. And it was one of my favourite quotes. For some reason, I decided to research it tonight and much to my disappointment I discovered that the words come from Lord Alfred Tennyson, and not from Shakespeare! So much for thinking I actually absorbed the one Shakespeare play I studied at school...

Back to the original tangent... A friend of mine told me not to bother with the Viking Museum in Roskilde as it is a waste of money. I think they were bang on actually. The Viking Museum is a large building hosting a collection of 'pieces' of 6 Viking boats that were excavated from the fjord in 1962. They were 'put' there by the Vikings to create an underwater barrier to prevent sea based attacks on Roskilde. The 6 ships are in various states, but in general, without the steel frames and some imagination, there really wouldn't be that much to see. However, WITH the steel frames and imagination, I did still find it fascinating seeing wooden constructions that carried dozens of Vikings, thousands of miles, many hundreds of years ago. Something about old 'stuff' always fascinates me...

The 'on board' dunny on the reconstruction.
In fact, a reconstruction of the largest ship (built in the museum's shipyards) recently completed a voyage to Dublin and back (it was thought the original was constructed in Ireland). The was a special exhibit on this in the musuem which was quite interesting, and it definitely reminded me how glad I am to not be a Viking sailing the choppy seas 1,000 years ago!
 
So back to my tangent. I had been told the museum wasn't worth it. And at DKK 75 (that's the special 'winter' price) I honestly think it was a bit of a rip-off. However, that's pretty much standard in Denmark I guess - that things are a rip-off and it's just a part of life. But, my point is, despite even thinking to myself that the museum may not really be worthwhile, I still wanted to go. It's not like I didn't have the money or the time, it was a beautiful day to be travelling to the country-side anyway, and, well, I thought to myself afterwards, 'tis better to have discovered rubbish, than to never have discovered at all.

And I think that philosophy pretty much explains so many of the things I do in life, and so much of why I do things. But finally I have put it down in a single line, one explanation of why I feel I need to try everything at least once, why I want to travel to so many places (even the ones that may not be so exciting), why I seem to want to chop and change jobs and careers, why I want to live in different cities, and why I am who I am.

Monday 7 February 2011

The important things in life

I spent the weekend in London. This was one of the great attractions of moving to Copenhagen for this job, the ability to travel easily and cheaply. To not have to spend 4 hours on a plane just to get to the other side of the country, never mind a different country, and to be able to do so with pocket change. Anyway, I made use of some super cheap flights and had a fantastic weekend in London. The best part about it though, was that there was zero tourist aspect to it, and it was purely to spend time with an old childhood friend, and some family. The two days there made me realise what are the things that are really good about life, and what is really required to make me feel good about myself. Friends and family.

So yet again I have learnt the lesson to not let 14 years (but practically, more like 25 years) pass between catching up with friends. That, and to make time for family because they are the ones who always welcome you with open arms, who will always make time for you, always be interested in you, and always make you feel loved.