This is not actually about winter sports. Bear with me. Many years ago, when I was at Edinburgh University, a fellow student convinced me to go on a weekend trip with him to the Cairngorms, for snowboarding. I had never been snowboarding before in my life, and in many ways it was a frustrating experience. Most of the weekend I spent sitting at the side of the slopes, waiting for the pain to go away. But there were some moments, some great turns I managed, some beautiful, easy slopes where I f...
