It’s not a blizzard outside but if you use your imagination, it could be.
The house smells of woodsmoke – the fire taking a while to get going but I finally got a draw on it. Monkey Puzzle Tree is crap timber and this is the last piece. [I chopped that monstrosity down about ten years ago!]
The smell is gorgeous, reminds me of those quaint Austrian bars where the low wooden door creaks, heat hitting you as you walk in, low light, damp ski jackets, hot chocolate and maybe a rum thrown in.
But today is today, in the Pennines and as I breathe in this lovely smell, I have already done something beautiful today.
We are all looking for perfection in life and some days it comes to you. I went for a run on the moors and the sharp snow stung my eyes. Got back, had a shower, then realised what kind of day this is, I cancelled EVERYTHING! Put on my down jacket, thermo fleece, outdoor kecks, studs, grabbed the sledge.
The sledge was already on my doorstep ready. I knew this would happen again so did not put it away. Some years I only get to do this once. This year I have done it a few times. Every time it is perfect.
On the golf links a short steep walk away, no one had walked the fresh snow. I had the entire place to myself. The sledge ran slow, thick snow building up in front like soundwaves in front of a supersonic aeroplane before it breaks the sound barrier. And like that sound barrier, the build up of snow was slowing down the sledge. Weaving from side got rid of it.
I tried to focus on the moment, concentrating on the feeling through my backside on the sledge, feeling the gentle undulations of the ground beneath, feeling the cold on my face. It’s a lot easier to concentrate on the moment when you have someone to play with, or the dog, as you can watch them. On your own your mind brings totally unrelated stuff from the sides. All you have to do, apparently, to get better at concentration, is acknowledge the thoughts, let them go and get back to where you were before.
I learned something today. Going fast on the sledge, flying down bracken on a steep slope, this totally got 100% of my attention. Even though I know I have loved speed all my life, I did not realise entirely why: It is because it gets me purely in the moment.
Going fast, being on the ragged edge, even on a sledge, the risk of being thrown out at any moment, makes you concentrate on everything. Speed, surface, what’s ahead.
I did three runs, fast short runs over heather, the bracken sticking through the snow before heading home. I had determined though I would be going out again, soon.
There is no way on god’s earth I was going to check e-mails or go on the fucking internet on a day like this.
It never lasts long. Sometimes it only lasts a few hours, even less!
You have to grab the chance whilst you can.
After some lunch, it’s blowing a gale outside, the fire is blazing and I can hear the wind drawing the chimney.
I want to go out sledging again and come back to this roaring fire. You pay big money for a holiday like this and some days it comes to you. It is such a rare thing, sometimes just once or twice a year if you are lucky. I have always made the most of these days, it is not just today. No matter what I was doing in the past, I would stop it to go skiing or sledging, one time taking my daughter to school late after a sledge [which she was not happy about.]
There is a lovely smell of woodsmoke still. I have meditated. It’s a beautiful opportunity to feel good, on my own, doing something I love doing – being outside, playing in the snow, many fond memories of lots of ski trips and adventures in the snow. Sitting by a roaring fire.
I intend to savour this fantastic day to the last. I’ll brace the weather again and get on the sledge once more. It will already be melting, I know what happens. Sometimes you have to grab life and grab it quick.
The second trip to the golf course I did nine runs down a steeper slope. They were less than 10 seconds each. Before I set off I felt the wind on my face, the snow hitting my cheeks. Deep breath, then zoomed down!
Less than ninety seconds I was on that sledge. Less than two minutes.
It was the most exciting, exhilarating thing I have done in months, if not years.
I went home feeling alive and on the road home bumped into Matthew.
He had just rushed home from university in Nottingham to savour the snow.
‘Do you want a go?’ as I held out the sledge.
Matthew will regret not taking that chance to have a go on the sledge.
Sometimes we have to say yes!
[Interesting to note that all of this deeply felt fun cost me nothing.]
