Synthetic substitute

This weekend saw the family skiiing at Hafjell near Lillehammer (it should only be 2.5 hours drive from Oslo but due to living in the world's richest country and all the inconveniences that come with that it takes 4 long painful hours to drive home.....). Anyway the skiiing was great - it was my first time on downhill skis in 17 years and I can't quite remember why I've waited so long.
Birding on the other hand was a disaster. I had hoped that I might be lucky enough to see something interesting such as a Siberian Jay (lavskrike) but low cloud and falling snow meant that the bird count over the weekend was 4 birds of 3 species: single Magpie (skjære), Crow (kråke) and a pair of these which uncharacteristically were seeking cover inside (as an addict though I don't complain how artificial my hit is!)