nineveh_uk

Arrived Saturday, went to bed thinking I was getting a slight cold, Sunday tested positive for COVID with a line that showed in about 30 seconds on the LFT. So I'm in bed in the spare room feeling unimpressed. Only took test to make sure, as it feels completely different from when I had it in March 2020. That was very weird. This is a bad cold (as albeit with some excruciating nose lining pain), but normal taste and smell, normal breathing, heart, no fever, and the tiredness you get with a rotten cold. But I am so bored, and of course hoping I haven't given it to my parents and Youngest Sister, who was round for tea on Saturday.

I have the athletics to watch, and had restarted Nirvana in Fire, but very bored and would be much happier if my nose/sinuses were not so uncomfortable. And if it weren't my bloody holiday.

I am back from a family holiday in Austwick with my parents and Youngest Sister. Middle Sister also dashed down with nephews for a day, because apparently she has both lots of energy and no sense of keeping it for preparing their family holiday departure yesterday to Spain. But it was nice to see them. Austwick is a small village (wih shop and primary school) for which the word "charming" was invented, and just off the A65 so highly convenient. My train to get there was inevitably the low point, and I really hope that next time I go to the area I am fit enough to drive.

Anyway, it was a great week, with bonus entertainment provided by politics. I even ate indoors twice. Though that was the start of the week - I am now back to refusing to breathe in anyone's vicinity. I was able to do at bit more than last year, particularly walking, with less ill-effects, though being in view of the three peaks and not able to do them remains frustrating. Still, there was green grass and grey crags and sheep and sheepdogs, and skies of various colours and degrees of dampness, and swifts and swallows and water and friendly cows.

( Photos )

I am home from this year's skiing holiday, and naturally therefore I am off sick today with what is probably some sort of virus, which I suspect my immune system of fighting off quite well the previous 10 days and then letting its guard down when the critical moment had passed. Anyway, I had a brilliant holiday. There was plenty of snow, though quite a lot of it was whipping across the fellside in a vicious wind, bright sunshine that at least made the windchill manageable, and the bruises are halfway faded. One day my feet may forgive me.

Belatedly, some summer holiday photos! I had a new camera after I dropped the old one in the sea earlier this summer, so I took vast numbers of photos thinking that I would be able to tweak settings and compare, and forgetting that there was no way I was going to remember which setting were which photo. So on both the plus and minus side I now have vast numbers of photos to sort through... Of which there follow just a few.

ETA: I've worked out how to re-size them to something sensible now...

( Read more... )

I am home from my skiing holiday, and lo! it was good. The aforementioned course was brilliant. While I would not proclaim myself a champion skater, I was respectable and it was a lot of fun. I'll definitely be doing more of it in future. Also bonus language practice thanks to the tiny group of two German speakers and two English speakers* each of whom knew the other language a bit, but not sufficiently to make either one dominate conversation*. The Alps were spiky and impressive even when the föhn was blasting a hair-dryer at the snow**, and a glass of wine with dinner less than a third of the price of Norway. It was all very easy and restful and I didn't have a cold during it (or, so far, after) for the first time in years.*** I expect next year to revert to where my heart lies, in the high white wilderness of the Norwegian fells, or at least Finland, but for this year the logistically easy and more populous version with shops was definitely what I needed. I managed just enough fitness to make the most of it, though at times it felt very noticeable to me that I had a veneer of energy laid over a pit of absence. But much as ice starts on the top of the water rather than the bottom, the veneer can in time be built into the real thing.

Back to work tomorrow! I feel simultaneously refreshed and reinvigorated for it and terrified of my inbox.

* The coach was Swedish and explained everything twice.

** Except the day it rained. I did my course in the morning, a diligent 3km of practice afterwards, and then went to the 'sauna world' to get rather more pleasantly drenched and hang around in a heated pool outdoors in the rain.

*** I have now not had a cold for about 5-6 weeks. This is amazing, maybe I've finally run out of new ones.

I am in Berlin. It is very hot. It is so hot that today I am joining the ranks of people who wear shorts in a city. Since this appears to be 50% of people I've been seeing, I shouldn't feel too conspicuous in my sartorial crime, and it is a small price to pay for hot weather.

Berlin is great. I can't remember much, and absolutely nothing has looked as I remember, which isn't surprising on any front since I was last here in 1993. There is far more history that is reasonable for one place, I knew I was only going to scratch the surface, but now I feel I won't even so much scratch as gently tickle, but there are worse fates than to have to come back. My feet hate me.

Tanz der Vampire was amazing. My decision to base a holiday around seeing a cheesy musical is one million percent vindicated. I'm going again tonight. I even stage-doored The shame! The shame!, which is probably the most nerdish thing I have ever done in my entire life. I have also found several prospective entrants to the Galactic Cape-Twirling Championships. So far the hot favourite is the dancer who twirled his cape while simultaneously twirling a woman above his head, but there were also strong entries in the dramatic and moody categories.

Naturally the fic I bought to write remains entirely unwritten, as indeed does my diary. Never mind, no doubt I will catch up during tomorrow's 8 1/2 hour train journey.

Something I hate: Birds singing at 5am and waking me up at a time at which I can't get back to sleep. Shut you, you feathered bastards! See also babies, bells, and muezzins.

Something I love: Books! I am not a book collector, though I like to treat mine gently, but love the contents. Have a second one for contrast, being in beautiful outdoor places. It is amazing to stand someone with a stunning view and look at it.

Somewhere I've been: I won't say "Birmingham" because I promoted its joys recently. More excitingly, therefore, Bukhara. Here is UNESCO on the subject. It is beautiful and fascinating, and as UNESCO put it is notable not simply for individual historic buildings, but for its survival as a townscape that gives a sense of the urban structure. Avicenna was born near there, the Emirate survived until 1920 (though it had been a Russian protectorate for several decades before then), and it has a surprisingly good Italian restaurant. It used to have a substantial Jewish population, but Soviet rule was not kind, and the majority emigrated once this became possible. My boss, who lived in Jerusalem in the late 80s/early 90s, when many people moved to there, told me that they were easily recognisable by their gold-veneered teeth, a widespread Uzbek fashion.

Somewhere I'd like to go: Bolivia. It has volcanoes, the Altiplano, ruins, and I've never been to South America. That's a good start.

Someone I know: my mother and middle sister. It is a good letter!

A film I like: Babette's Feast. How the hell a recent Guardian review could give this only 4/5 stars I can't imagine. This 1987 film directed by Gabriel Axel is cinematic perfection. It was shown on BBC2 and my father taped, and it became a family favourite, to the extent that a couple of years ago we recreated the dinner. It isn't simply charming; it is profound and beautiful.

It is also responsible for a moment of classroom triumph on my part, when we were watching it in the Danish class before Christmas, with Danish subtitles, and during the General's speech the woman next to me whispered "What on earth is he saying?" to which I responded "Mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace shall kiss one another." I was not, of course, that good after one term - I had realised very early in the film that I had seen it so often that I could remember pretty much all of the English subtitles. I did confess afterwards.

Have the trailer:




If you would like a letter to do this, comment away!

Apparently it is 8 January 2016 today. I’m not sure how it can be so, but reputable sources say that it is, so I suppose I must believe them. A whole week into the new year! A whole week gone at work. Work has actually been quite good; that is, it has been much the same as usual, but I have had vastly more energy and inclination for it than I did in the last couple of weeks of term before Christmas.

Anyway, I had a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas holiday, including:

• Many delightful presents. I am particularly hoping that the digital radio will get me into radio listening more regularly (not just the cricket). I’ve dropped the habit in recent years, which is silly because I really enjoy it.
• An excellent train journey up, a very trying journey down.
• Much food, including the successful cooking of the hare. You get an enormous quantity of meat for £8.50 on a hare.
• Visible snow twice! A miracle given the weather. We had one actually cold day, on New Year’s Day, which happily involved a walk, although the pace that three year olds walk means that I had to go and run up a nearby hill and then catch up half-way through in order not to freeze.
• Some splendid entertainment, of which reviews to come, and also the karaoke, which was a great success. Middle Sister’s rendition of Dire Straights’ ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is fortunately greatly improved since I last heard it and is now quite impressive.
• No work for a fortnight, and most other people being off for all of that, meaning few emails to return to.
• Surprisingly little reading, including only a tiny bit of Yuletide. I am looking on that as some fanfic treats to look forward to in the rest of winter.
• Some successful sales shopping: after saying I was not getting winter work skirts any more, I bought a new one, also drinking glasses, a warm cardigan, and if I get to the shops this lunchtime, possibly a work jacket. [ETA: I didn't get a jacket, it turns out that the reason it was marked down was that it looked like a sack when worn.]

The train problems were caused by a damaged viaduct on the west coast line and a tree on the east coast one, both caused by the absolutely appalling weather in northern England and southern Scotland. Seeing some of the areas of Leeds and York that flooded was staggering; there were areas that haven’t flooded in many decades looking like rivers. Meanwhile Cameron is claiming that he’s investing new money in a Leeds flood scheme, when it's the same money already announced, much of which the council came up with. I would like to think that this ‘winter’ is a wake-up call to the whole country and its politicians on climate change, but I fear it won’t be.

And speaking of the weather, according to the Independent “the coldest winter in 58 years is expected to hit the country.” I think we can all say “yeah, right” to that one. Still, there was actually frost this morning for only the second time this season, and a bit of moderate chill will be no bad thing. Meanwhile it has been -40C in northern Norway, with some interesting pictures. Though I can’t link to the best ones, because this is the week of the Tour de Ski, so I can’t look at any websites that might have skiing news on until I have got home and caught up with the videos. There is nothing like watching winter sports each night to ease the return to the office routine.

One day I will go on a holiday and come back less tired than when I went away*. It is a long time since I have just gone for a day at the beach, which is silly as I enjoy a day at the beach. On the other hand, filling every waking minute does mean that though not a lot of reading gets done, I am thoroughly mentally refreshed by concentrating on doing things outside the daily grind, which is excellent. Likewise excellent is that I now possess grappa, a sort of pistachio version of Nutella, and a silk scarf. The broken/sprained little toe is less excellent. Fortunately after the first bout of sudden agony, a sticky bandage and exchanging sandals for lace-ups reduced it to a nuisance rather than a major inconvenience, and it improved during the week so I am now fairly sure that it is only the tendons. Also less excellent was the Italian air traffic controllers’ strike, something that really makes one appreciate the value of flying with BA who seemed pretty good about making rearranging things their problem.

Anyway, it was good fun. I saw lots of interesting things including impressive art** and beautiful scenery, 8 dead bodies***, and numerous churches, enjoyed some better weather, ate some excellent food**** and ice cream (top marks to the bergamot and marron glaces flavours), drank cocktails, took a plane, train, bus, underground, but not alas tram. It was a bit cloudy for much of the time (except with good timing when I was on the duomo roof) so I am not at all tanned and did not swim, but I hope I have managed to synthesise a bit of vitamin D to see me through until May.

Photos are on LJ.

I had a great holiday. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was fantastic - sunny, but not over warm, with the occasional snow shower to keep things fresh and not too much wind - the sun was high and daylight hours long, the northern lights managed to be out on my last night at the same time as me*, the skiing facilities were brilliant, I was reasonably competent, my hotel room was very pleasant**, and I had some very nice food. The restorative powers of a large apple doughnut are remarkable. A week off work in which I haven’t even been able to do my unpacking is a small price to pay***.

Some random comments:

• Seldom have I seen such a large concentration of moustache-wearers. Finnish men appear to develop a compulsion aged c. 50 to go out and grow one.

• It is vital as a British skier in Finland to accept from the start that you will be comparatively rubbish. Then when you are overtaken by 7 year olds, 70 year olds, women with multiple babies in a sledge, and blind people (not joking), you will not be downhearted, and instead can enjoy overtaking 5 year olds, 75 year olds, and the rare Scandinavian who doesn’t like downhills.

• I am going to set up the Lapland Airport Coach Safari Company. On the way from the airport to my hotel I saw a fox (red) slinking in the edge of the wood (looking exactly like this print), and an arctic hare, and on the way back to the airport, two reindeer. They are paler in colour than I had anticipated. I also saw a second hare (from my hotel bedroom window) and a capercaillie. Birdlife was otherwise disappointing – magpies and great tits do not count, and the Siberian jays for which the reason is known must have been on holiday in Siberia.

• I was quite pleased with my skiing. I did c. 125km over 6 days, plus a day on the downhill pistes (advantage of an evening flight home). I wasn’t as fast on the flat as I’d have liked, but I definitely improved my XC downhill confidence and technique, which I'd set as a personal goal.

Some photographs on LJ, which is much easier to upload them to.

*And then I went for a walk for an hour at midnight in case they came back, which they did a bit, but which was probably not the greatest idea. I had my pyjamas on inside my ski kit.

**Although the English-language news channels were Euronews and France 24 UK. I learnt a lot more than I would have anticipated about the French municipal elections and their impact on Hollande’s government.

***Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood film, which I watched this afternoon, was a large price to pay. Utter drivel.