So, then it’s here again. It came later this year, thankfully, than it often had. But it is inevitable living here in Norway; the snow will show up sooner or later. I used to love the snow. Back when I was kid, snow was the most awesome thing in the world. It was perhaps the best (or perhaps only) way to get me out of bed early on. Ask me if I wanted to go outside and build a snow case, a snow man, have a snow fight or go racing on out snow racers. There was an excellent hill where I grew up, and I could spend hours going walking up and racing down. As I grew older I learned how to “prep” the racers and the jet ski’s we used. We used wax candles and rubbed it under the skis. It was horribly dangerous, reckless and so. Much. Fun! And of course, as we grew older the hills grew larger. Some kids in school used this hill road to race on. The hill road ended in a 700 metres long steep slope that used to ice over. It’s a wonder no one either got killed in an accident or got hit by a car (well, of course the road was in use by cars).
My family also was big on skiing, both in the mountains and in prepared tracks closer to home. And us kids had to come along as well. We used these cards that we would fill in the distances we walked every time, and if we registered between 25-300 km during the winter we would get medals and prizes from the Norwegian ski organisation. It was fun and it made skiing more interesting than just walking around in the cold and the snow.
When skiing in the mountains, it was usually the trip, the scenery and some mountain top that was our goal. We would of course bring food and snacks and coffee and make a proper trip out of it. This happened usually later in the year and especially around easter.
When I got my drivers license, the winter became something else entirely. It became less about skiing, and more about sliding and skidding. The handbrakes got very frequently used – especially in the roundabouts – and we had competitions in who would have the longest and best controlled slide through corners and in big parking places. I had a big advantage in having a really old, back wheeled car that really didn’t have much weight. And with slim tires, it became perfect for driving in winter condition. I managed to avoid any crashes or accidents then as well – though how, I am not quite sure. I still feel the longing after the old car, an abandoned parking place, no supervision from someone more adult than we were, and spinning, sliding and skidding around.
As I have gotten older, however, this joy has vanished. I don’t wake up excited about the snow anymore. I notice that it is cold and icy now. I don’t long for hours spent spinning tires and nearly crashing into obstacles or other cars. I think about the costs if something should go wrong, and even if something shouldn’t, new tires aren’t as cheap as they once were. I’m not sure if I have “grown up”, gotten more cynical or are just tired of scraping off the ice and snow from everything while feeling my fingers grow more and more numb by the second. I apologise for sounding like and old grump. That wasn’t the point of this post. I wanted to share some of the things I as a weird, little kid used to use to do during the winter. Maybe I will go back home and dig out my old snow racer again this winter and see if I still know how to avoid breaking any limbs racing at breakneck speeds through a wooded area with torn bushes and rocks hidden in the snow. I doubt it, but thinking about it now, makes it sound horribly exciting again.
