Winter storm hits Scandinavia

[PMC]

Ah the romantic image of a blanket of snow covering the rooftops of a scandinavian hamlet, while reindeer chew at hay and children build snowmen...

Shame that over in my corner of Europe the weather will be as follows:

A large grey front will be bringing greyness into the Eastern Counties from the tail end of September through to the middle of March.  A generous coating of grey, damp and chilly murk can be expected during this time, accompained by fine drizzle and temperatures that are neither freezing nor moderate for the time of year.

From mid-March, the cover of grey will disperse to leave regular thrice monthly periods of sunshine lasting up to two hours.  However, the grey will return periodically ie from June to August.

[PMC]

bjjones37 wrote:
@ PMC

Try bringing your bike to Texas for a change.  

Yep, would love to!  

The scenery must be pretty spectacular compared to here and friendly people are a bonus on the trails.  Bikers are a friendly lot in general, especially if you've broken down and are fixing a mechanical problem at the trailside.

Don't trust horses though.  I'm normally very good at establishing a friendly rapport with most creatures but horses aren't one of them.  If they bred a horse with a set of handlebars attached to the back of the neck it wouldn't be so bad.

[PMC]

I once went riding on this big grey thing that was several times larger than me and knew it.  I'd managed to perch myself on top of it, facing the right way which was a bonus.  Okay, so horsey wants to eat.  Fine, so I sit there while my new equine friend munches away at the foliage.  

"Kick it!" yells someone, so I do.  Nothing happens.

"Kick it harder!" they yell.  Feeling very bad for inflicting pain on the horse I give it a decent whack with my heels and it decides to move.  For all of ten yards before it spots a delicious looking patch of grass and proceedes to munch again.

Said horse was feeling very antisocial as it attempted to kick another horse nearby, but I managed to steer it out of trouble.  After a very bumpy ride, I get off, thank it for it's time and am promptly ignored until I present it with some fresh green grass to eat, when it's eyes light up and it greets me like a long lost friend.

I'm somewhat troubled by the size and condition of the dangerous looking teeth suddenly bared in my direction, which someone interprets as "Aww, horsey just wants his gums rubbed".  Sorry, but horsey can rub his own damn gums until he goes and gets his breath attended to.

[PMC]

You're absolutely right BJ.

Horses have a very highly developed sense of perception, matched with a sense of humour bordering on the sadistic.  With every other animal I've encountered, from snakes to Rottweilers (and most things in between) I've been able to establish a rapport based on mutual respect.  However horses are somewhat different.  

Saying that, there used to be a big, friendly horse who lived around the corner from me who'd wait until I was walking past on my way back from school before poking his face over the wall to say "hello", and was regularly rewarded with a good fuss before allowing me to go on my way.