Skiing

On those mornings that I could practice, the slope would be surrounded by car boot sellers. Buyers ranged from busy enthusiasts, searching for a bargain, to those looking to wile away a Sunday morning, with bored children, occasionally playing around, occasionally looking for adventure or entertainment. Occasionally I was their entertainment. More often, I was left alone, unnoticed. A solitary figure, on an otherwise empty canvass, engaged in my own solitary world. Practice, patience. Occasional quiet reward.

I now ski on snow. The ski's are more responsive, and the skills developed on that solitary, lonely slope, now stand me in good stead, on softer, yielding snow.

Initial training on an artificial slope some years ago, involved a range of unpredictable hard falls on an unyielding criss-cross plastic matting, quickly establishing the importance, for maintaining effective break-fall skills. Most of the time, the slope stood alone, unused, isolated in an otherwise empty field. One arranged appointments, turned up at the allotted time, and took up a range of challenges to be perfected upon an empty stage.