others had been there and hacked with peaks in the ice to see if it was thick enough. we were also trying it at sunday, but then decided to wait just a couple of days more. we were the first ones to skate on the lake Athulen this season, the ice was just about thick enough. about cirka 50 mm thick now in general, thinner by the shore. it looked like glass, and the lake looked black and deep underneath it. we almost didn't dare to skate today, luckily we were not scared off by the ice breaking under our skates by the shore, but ventured farther out on the lake.
the sun was setting (ca 14:30) and the waxing moon was rising. the sky was purple, pink and orange in the west, colors and light that was mirrored in the lake ice. the Ice surface was partially obscured by a thin powder of snowflakes, otherwise it would have been like a big mirror, I've skated on lakes like that before. the ice resounded with our strides, making a kind of musical sound. sometimes cracking noises. I also felt like I had a singing in my body, as if me and the lake and the forest around it, even the sky, was singing together in a mystical way.
I was smiling, laughing, my eyes were tearing up, and I was crying out loud with joy and excitement. I don't know what to compare it to, maybe when one kisses ones loved one for the first time. it's similar because of the feeling of risk involved. this is possibly lethal, the ice sheet is thinner at places but it's hard to tell where. It was possible to skate all over the lake, as we discovered, but there is always a risk. that's what makes it all the better!
It's such a simple and inexpensive, childish pleasure but it's one of my favorite sports in wintertime. (if not THE favorite one, now when skeleton cancer has ruined snowboarding for me, according to the doctor, forever.)
now I just come to think about something that I take for granted and you maybe don't know. in Sweden there is something called allemansratten. 'all men's/peoples right'. it means that i can go skate on whatever lake I want to, i don't even need to ask, or even know who owns it. i, and everyone, can pick berries in all the forests we like. we can not destroy anything or take anything that doesn't renew itself. I can put up a tent and camp out for the night. and so on. certain plants are protected because they are rare, and one shouldn't litter, etc. it is my belief that allemansratten should be a world-wide thing. when I visit other places where all wilderness is fenced in, owned and forbidden to go into, I feel so restricted, it's like I'm suffocating.
skating on the lake ice doesn't use up any recourses, it doesn't take anything away from anyone, it doesn't involve any high tech; just a couple of pieces of metal one straps to ones sturdy hiking shoes. of course it wouldn't be possible for many people to do it at once, we couldn't even skate close to each other on this thin fresh ice without bursting, and it was just the two of us. in a similar way, it doesn't matter how simple lives we all lead, if we are too many we break the ecology non the less. it's not just us humans the recourses are for. it's all the other beings too.
now I just come to think about something that I take for granted and you maybe don't know. in Sweden there is something called allemansratten. 'all men's/peoples right'. it means that i can go skate on whatever lake I want to, i don't even need to ask, or even know who owns it. i, and everyone, can pick berries in all the forests we like. we can not destroy anything or take anything that doesn't renew itself. I can put up a tent and camp out for the night. and so on. certain plants are protected because they are rare, and one shouldn't litter, etc. it is my belief that allemansratten should be a world-wide thing. when I visit other places where all wilderness is fenced in, owned and forbidden to go into, I feel so restricted, it's like I'm suffocating.
skating on the lake ice doesn't use up any recourses, it doesn't take anything away from anyone, it doesn't involve any high tech; just a couple of pieces of metal one straps to ones sturdy hiking shoes. of course it wouldn't be possible for many people to do it at once, we couldn't even skate close to each other on this thin fresh ice without bursting, and it was just the two of us. in a similar way, it doesn't matter how simple lives we all lead, if we are too many we break the ecology non the less. it's not just us humans the recourses are for. it's all the other beings too.
what I want to say is;
THIS is living, this is truth, pure, not corrupted and false.
so when so many people are using up precious recourses for joyless luxuries to entertain themselves, I would like to encourage people to rediscover other simpler, truer joys in life. this is one of my answers to how we will preserve the recourses, the minoan way. the minoans enjoyed nature, adventure and sports.
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