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Much of a muchness
Things that make you go 'hmm'…
Head first down a mountain…
Posted by on January 27, 2008
My ex and my precious Number 2 son have been in St.Moritz in Switzerland. I got a phone call to say that they had both just done the Cresta Run, a three-quarter of a mile long ice run which drops 514 feet, has 10 very testing corners and gradients from 1 in 2.8 to 1 in 8.7. Apparently, you hurl yourself down the run, headfirst on something resembling a tea-tray at speeds which can reach 80-100km/hour. It’s called (gulp) Skeleton.
By the time I heard about their activities, my ex had a been down once and said it was the scariest 79 seconds of his life, whereas Number 2 son, loved it and went down 7 times – his best time being under 54 seconds. Here is a taster of what it is like.
I am so glad that I didn’t know about this before it happened as I would have been scared to death on their behalf. As it is, a couple of days later, apparently a very experienced chap went down the run and arrived at the end, minus a foot. He had some sort of hideous accident on the way down. I just hope my adrenalin-junkie son thinks twice about doing things like this again but I doubt it. He is very reckless brave and adores winter sports especially skiing. Every time he comes back from skiing trips with his friends, he shows me little videos they take of each other doing scary jumps at great speed. Frightens me to death.
I have no idea where he gets his love of skiing from, as I am the world’s most cautious person and hate skiing (as does my ex) but I suppose we didn’t learn when we were young enough to feel indestructible. Both my sons love it – Number 1 son enjoys snowboarding. I am brilliant at àpres ski though, and have accompanied many of my friends on skiing holidays quite happily :-)
Talking of snow (very dodgy segue coming up) if you remember my polar bear episodes recently, well I came across this and just had to post it.
Much of a muchness 
Looks like we have skiing in common, I’m hopeless! But love the après stuff! My last skiing attempt involved mountain rescue in Andorra followed by bed rest for too long and then hobbling! I’ll stick to the drink next time! Having said that I want Manon Lily to have no fear and as soon as she is old enough (currently 7 months) she’ll be up there with daddy! Living only 2 hours from the nearest resort (door to door) we would be stupid to say no!
Do you sell the books you make? If so how much and do you take special requests on the patterns for the covers?
Cheers,
Ed
Lunes – Ooh, that sounds painful. You are right to get Manon Lily learning to ski at a young age. Maybe she needs to learn to walk first though :-)
Ed – I am in the (slow) process of setting up a web site and an Etsy store. The price depends on the size and I haven’t quite fixed it yet. And yes, I can personalize them. Hope this helps….
We used to do some crazy stuff on the hills near where I grew up such as building ramps and jumping over each other on our cheap plastic sleds, but nothing as crazy as the luge or whatever that stuff you listed is called.
I was just having a talk with a friend (in his mid twenties) on my hockey team yesterday morning about the indestructible feeling and how he no longer had it. I told him that it was probably a good thing.
I like the cover and colors of this book. Very nice.
I don’t think I ever had the indestructible feeling – well, maybe just a little! It vanished completely when I had my children. I even became severely afraid of flying. I suppose you feel you need to protect yourself for your children…
Glad you like the book…
I purposely don’t learn how to ski. Someday my kids will both be old enough to go out for a day with their father and then I’ll have an entire day of sweet, sweet freedom!
You really have some funny posts … we might have to enter you in the humor blog nominations as well!
I am Tri-Equador (not even I know what that means…)
AmyH – good planning!
I enjoyed reading your blog. I fact it has inspired me to investigate Typepad as I love the widgets you have….watch this space! I may be getting in touch for a little bit of help at some point!
Speedy – ha! thank you. It’s bad enough not getting any votes in 3 categories, never mind 4…. :-)
Just Googled ‘tri-equador’ and am none the wiser. Please explain!
I can picture you at the snow….apres yes !!! all for it..Diane :)
as for the kids….worrying=kids (and boys in particular)
what ever happened to the terrible twos???
nice nautical colours !!!
and that art book is sensational !!!
I think the terrible twos became the terrifying twenty twos in my sons case! He loves doing terrifying things (well, terrifying to me anyway) :-)
It is a nautical book isn’t it? Navy blue and rope, that would do it!
Skiing totally scares me. I like my feet; I’d like to keep both of them. Red Shoe Diaries just aren’t the same if you’re wearing only one hot red shoe.
Anyway….
Anyway, the sugarqueen tagged me for a meme that (while I don’t do all memes I get tagged for) actually is pretty darn cool. There’s no work, it’s just a copy/paste of a list of blogs, and add yours. It’s huge… they’re trying for a record and so if you take part, you’ll end up with tons of backlinks and a fine technorati rating!
I tagged you. Only play if you want though. You don’t actually even have to tag anyone, you can just post the list and tell them to add you to the master list and they will. How’s that for the closest thing to a free lunch?
I did the tag at my original blog at http://fracas.wordpress.com but the tag for you is over at my blogger blog (I call it the whore-y version of me) Check it out.. and while you’re there you can vote for what part of fracas should be pierced. http://justfracas.blogspot.com/2008/01/bang-me-i-dare-you.html
Your reactions remind me of my mother. My daring antics during my childhood and teens would send shivers down her spine. In the community where we used to stay, we would climb the trees and then jump from roof to roof across an entire block.
I can understand how you feel about this episode. My mother had explained what she felt about such things (after giving me a nice big spanking of course) several times, until i finally got it. That was when my shoulder snapped and put an end to my pitching career. :-)
Thanks for dropping by my site. I realized just now that it was you that originated the 7 things about myself that Angesbiz posted, which was given as a challenge to me by Allan Cockerill. You’re a creative person and multi-talented too (i read your profile). There is enough to do to keep you busy and happy for the rest of your life! Blogging is one of them. And you’ve got great friends that I know of. –Durano, done!
Diane – any chance of joining our exhibition in France in April and selling these wonderful books? There is more information about it along with an application form on my website! Cheers Kylee
Ooh, I say! How exciting! I am off to investigate now…..