Oh, Frustration!
Dec. 27th, 2010 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
endlessraritiesIt's raining. After the Big Freeze (2010, Part II) comes the Big Thaw (2010, Part II).
Window of Opportunity #2 for our Lake District foray is now open, and it looks like the weather, once again, is going to thwart us. The cold weather isn't giving in without a fight - more snow is due in the Southern Uplands tonight and tomorrow morning, so travelling will still be dodgy. This is really irritating, as the weather towards the close of the week is looking quite good, in relative terms, at least, so we could have got some walking done, even if it was only at a low level.
But, of course, this weekend is Hogmanay, when Scots traditionally get blootered while a) lamenting the lost opportunities of the previous year, and b) tentatively looking forward to the next one, so we will, once again, be fettered by social obligation.
Walking is still out of the question, as outside, the ground conditions are truly disgusting. The remains of the snow and ice are covered by a thin film of water which makes walking virtually impossible. And with the loss of the snow, the garden is revealed, and much of it is covered with bird poo! Bleaugh!! In the long term, the plants'll probably love it, but the short term health issues for the birds aren't good.
I'm spending my time watching Wagner's Ring cycle in the daytime, and the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy at night. It's an interesting and rather appropriate juxtaposition. J is almost getting interested in the Ring - he commented yesterday that it was like watching a soap opera, and wondered why it was that the gods, and Wotan in particular, were acting like a bunch of idiotic, angsty muppets.
Like any soap opera, it drags you in - but I must admit, I'd rather be watching the emotional hand-wringing of gods, goddesses, heroes and dwarves than a bunch of East End losers sobbing into their pints in a dingy London pub!
If I was given the choice of being any figure in ancient myth or legend, I think I'd want to be a Valkyrie. Their lives are just one big long party. They gallop through the skies on their horses, practising their 'Helega Ha's' and touring battlefields in search of dead heroes to carry home to Daddy in Valhalla. Maybe it does have its bad points. I mean, you have to be the one who tells the unfortunate hero that he's about to cop it. I can picture the scene: 'Hi there, Hedwig! Do you want the good news, or the bad news? Well, the bad news is: you're going to die tomorrow! But... The good news is that you're going to spend the rest of eternity drinking and singing in Valhalla with a whole bunch of other heroes and there'll be loads of pretty maidens to frolick with, too!'
Yeah. Chances are your chosen hero is going to leap up and go 'Woo Hoo!' rather than sob into his pillow for the rest of the night... I mean, what's the alternative? Growing old in the early medieval period can't have been much fun, what with the arthritis and the worn teeth, and countless other miseries to contend with.
On a more sombre note. According to the weather reports, the eastern parts of the USA are getting the snow just now. If you're in that neck of the woods, look after yourselves, would you? Stay safe, stay warm, and remind yourself that spring will be coming. Eventually...
Window of Opportunity #2 for our Lake District foray is now open, and it looks like the weather, once again, is going to thwart us. The cold weather isn't giving in without a fight - more snow is due in the Southern Uplands tonight and tomorrow morning, so travelling will still be dodgy. This is really irritating, as the weather towards the close of the week is looking quite good, in relative terms, at least, so we could have got some walking done, even if it was only at a low level.
But, of course, this weekend is Hogmanay, when Scots traditionally get blootered while a) lamenting the lost opportunities of the previous year, and b) tentatively looking forward to the next one, so we will, once again, be fettered by social obligation.
Walking is still out of the question, as outside, the ground conditions are truly disgusting. The remains of the snow and ice are covered by a thin film of water which makes walking virtually impossible. And with the loss of the snow, the garden is revealed, and much of it is covered with bird poo! Bleaugh!! In the long term, the plants'll probably love it, but the short term health issues for the birds aren't good.
I'm spending my time watching Wagner's Ring cycle in the daytime, and the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy at night. It's an interesting and rather appropriate juxtaposition. J is almost getting interested in the Ring - he commented yesterday that it was like watching a soap opera, and wondered why it was that the gods, and Wotan in particular, were acting like a bunch of idiotic, angsty muppets.
Like any soap opera, it drags you in - but I must admit, I'd rather be watching the emotional hand-wringing of gods, goddesses, heroes and dwarves than a bunch of East End losers sobbing into their pints in a dingy London pub!
If I was given the choice of being any figure in ancient myth or legend, I think I'd want to be a Valkyrie. Their lives are just one big long party. They gallop through the skies on their horses, practising their 'Helega Ha's' and touring battlefields in search of dead heroes to carry home to Daddy in Valhalla. Maybe it does have its bad points. I mean, you have to be the one who tells the unfortunate hero that he's about to cop it. I can picture the scene: 'Hi there, Hedwig! Do you want the good news, or the bad news? Well, the bad news is: you're going to die tomorrow! But... The good news is that you're going to spend the rest of eternity drinking and singing in Valhalla with a whole bunch of other heroes and there'll be loads of pretty maidens to frolick with, too!'
Yeah. Chances are your chosen hero is going to leap up and go 'Woo Hoo!' rather than sob into his pillow for the rest of the night... I mean, what's the alternative? Growing old in the early medieval period can't have been much fun, what with the arthritis and the worn teeth, and countless other miseries to contend with.
On a more sombre note. According to the weather reports, the eastern parts of the USA are getting the snow just now. If you're in that neck of the woods, look after yourselves, would you? Stay safe, stay warm, and remind yourself that spring will be coming. Eventually...
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no subject
Date: 2010-12-27 11:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-27 11:37 am (UTC)I think I'd spend my time galloping through the skies practising the 'Helega Ha's' just so you wouldn't stumble home into an eternity of your average city centre on a Saturday night! All those smelly, belching, farting, vomiting heroes. Shudder!!
no subject
Date: 2010-12-27 11:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-27 11:46 am (UTC)I'm sure you'll be braving the elements in search of pretty pictures, sooner rather than later, and I'm sure the results will be well up to the usual standards!
no subject
Date: 2010-12-27 11:48 am (UTC)I'm sorry you're not going to get your Lake District trip though.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-27 11:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-28 10:49 pm (UTC)Hogmanay is a time when I'm quite glad I'm a hermit and don't have any invites (well, apart from that girl trying to invite herself to my non-existent night out!). I find it all rather boring and overdone. And I'd rather start 2011 without a hangover!
no subject
Date: 2010-12-31 01:51 pm (UTC)