merry christmas everyone!

I just went for another walk in the lovely winter landscape -- glittering snow, cold vapours over the sea, a clutch of swans in the inlet, wading through knee-deep soft snow...

... but not a sign of skis. When I was a kid we'd get out on skis anywhere and anywhen but that seems to have stopped now. Are contemporary skis so advanced and technological you can only use them under controlled conditions, in properly maintained tracks under electric lights ("elljusspår")? Or is global warming so far advanced that it just doesn't occur to anyone that they could actually just go out and ski at home?

Maybe it's just too cold, -13c makes most ppl stay indoors. Cats certainly do. Rrrrr.