10 Days of Reflection - Day 5 - Snowy Reflections

Well this is post 5 actually, post four was 19 days ago, so it's fair to say I am milking this as far as I can - but as @old-guy-photos says the rules are there just for guidelines.....

So for post 5 on the 10 days of reflections, it's a snow scene reflection on my snowboarding goggles. It was a bit cold that year during my holiday, good job the whiskers were a bit longer for a bit of insulation.

This does remind me of a tale from many years back, I tend to like to get a bit of speed up while snowboarding if the piste is relatively clear - and one trip I had the perfect run building up a fair bit of speed at the same time

With nice empty pistes I whipped over a lip onto a steeper downward section, and half way down that steeper slope a lady was traversing the piste with her two children behind who were probably around the 7 years age. At this point it is worth noting that on steeper slopes the learners and not so confident perform a zig zag manoeuvre - crossing the slope left to right and right to left so they do not build up too much speed which can be dangerous if you can not control it.

So approaching this little chain of skiers at a fair pace, I faced a decision which I had little time to make. The added complication is of course I have no idea of their intentions - they could turn at any moment to go back the other way - or they could keep going right to the far right piste boundary. To the left there was a mountainous wall - no run off space at all. To the right, it was closed off with netting - followed by a few trees and what I could just about see would be a cliff drop of unknown depth - but I do know that they net off sections you really don't want to be passing though.

Approaching the group with now terminal velocity, the time to procrastinate had passed - go left and if they decide to turn back hit them. Head right towards the netting and hope they decide to turn before the gap at the edge gets too narrow to fit through. I decided to go right. And they kept going right as well, I was approaching an ever shrinking gap and on a snowboard safely changing my direction left to clear them at the speed I was going was a gamble I did not want to take.

With no options left, the only safe thing to do is try to stop...although at the speed I was going and the ever shortening gap this was even a tall order. Whipping the board right horizontal to the slope I dig the heel side edge in and lean backwards heavily to jam on the brakes so to speak. The board tries to bite into the hard packed icy surface of the snow - but instead starts bouncing like a skimming stone over water. Being leaned so far back to force the deceleration - with every bounce my back is getting closer and closer to the snow.

Eventually gravity takes over and I hit the piste hard butt first still travelling at a rate of knots. Both hands are down to cushion the hit and dig into the snow as I slide towards the trio eventually stopping just a few feet before them in a flurry of snow. I got a look of disdain for the lady, none to impressed with my spectacular stopping manoeuvre. Heading back to the chair lift my left thumb was a little stingy - especially when it touched anything - just a little sore from all the bouncing in the snow I thought.

Some four hours later I made it back to the chalet and took off my thick snowboarding gloves, interestingly my left stingy thumb had two new opposing lumps where it joined my hand and looked very swollen. Consulting with the relatives I was on holiday with, a trip to the medical centre was decided on. On Holiday in Italy, medical insurance is always a good idea while traveling this was a very expensive visit to the Doctor but I did get to claim it back. The X-Ray showed a very clean dislocation of my thumb - the doctor did not speak English and all I could grasp was that he had some sort of cunning solution to the problem, he held my injured hand and rubbed up and down the thumb with two new lumps - then out of nowhere he grabbed and yanked and I let out a kind of shocked gasp type of yelp like a puppy that just discovered bushes with thorns on exist. The two lumps were gone and a nurse had already started applying I cast which I had to wear for three weeks and then get cut off at a UK hospital.

My left thumb still sits a little wonky compared to the right, but is none the worse for that little adventure. So ends my 10 days of reflection day 5, including a little tale from the past and a few gifs from my previous snowboarding holiday - that's the wonder of Steemit really you can make a post what you like - and who knows maybe someone might be entertained by it.

I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who takes the time to comment on my blogs, so many people call in now and I really do appreciate it very much - it might take me a few days to reply but it's wonderful to have such an amazing amount of interaction on my humble efforts, I'd mention you all but the gifs lag out the text entry box too much.

On my last blog I introduced #sublimesunday - a tag for Sundays where you can do whatever crazy and inventive thing you feel like as a blog post. To kick off I did some sky time-lapse, and gave it a twist by taking the time lapse while moving - which certainly made for "different" footage. Plenty of guesses in the comments on how I did it thank you very much everyone who joined in - and the answer

I stuck my iPhone mount to the glass roof of my car so the iPhone could record the time lapse through the roof! Very handy, I live on the estate they filmed Rita, Sue and Bob movie (I doubt any of you have seen it) - you don't want to be leaving anything of value hanging round outside for long unattended.

Shout out of this post goes to the awesome guys in #teammorocco who always have my back, leave comments almost instantly and are generally the finest best natured people you could come across. My finest respect goes out to @askmee, @hassanben, @prosteemian, @beforandafter, @abdelfattahnadif and many others I am sure - I struggle sometimes to pick up on all of you use #teammorocco in the comments so I can find you easier!

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For Steemit to grow we need to post rich content - interesting and unique posts that encourage others to join in and share their experiences. If you feel your own posts are not doing well look at what your favourite content creators are doing - if you like their work they are doing something you could do as well - think of way to do similar things with your own unique twist.

The picture to the right kindly sketched by the wonderful @bridget.art , be sure to check her incredible art out https://steemit.com/@bridget.art

As Steemit grows making your content stand out gives it a greater chance to be seen and enjoyed, I try to work on making one post a day - but making it as big and content rich as I can. I don't know if this is the right way, but I enjoy the most big content rich posts - and a wise man on Steemit once said to me - make your content like the content you enjoy.

!steemitworldmap 53.766547 lat -1.801500 long Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. d3scr