Monday, December 12
Arcada, 15:21
I woke up this morning very early because I had to get to Arcada by 8:15 at the latest. The Vaken sprint, organised for 220 students, starts today – and somehow it has changed from an event at which I act as an advisor in the background to an event where I act as ringmaster for about half of it. Today, fortunately, I do just hang around in the background, which means I get a chance to see it all in action before I have my first turn at the rodeo.
I leave the house to discover snow literally up to my knees. I struggle through it and get to the road before I find myself walking on it rather than wading through it.
In the afternoon before leaving Arcada I wander down to the window at the front and photograph someone walking past. They have their head down against the almost horizontal snow.
I will get to Itis, meet Irma, and spend a delightful two hours in the warm darkness of the cinema, where we will watch George Clooney and Julia Roberts doing a double act in Ticket to Paradise.
They do it very well.