Maybe next year…
I took this picture about a week ago when everyone across Europe was complaining about the cold. In Utrecht, one of the side effects of the cold was frozen canals. Although I notice how cold it was every time I had to take my bike to go somewhere, I didn’t realized that the canals were so frozen that people were actually ice skating and walking around freely.
Unfortunately, when I took the picture, I was a bit in a hurry so I didn’t have time stop and join all these people. Then, all through the week, the weather has slowly warmed up reducing the ice layer a bit more everyday… Now, water is only water again and I didn’t get to walk on the iced canals of Utrecht… Maybe next year (however, if you ever read this, thank you Renier for offering me to go with you, it’s a pity I couldn’t T_T).
Now, I also want to talk about music because I’m still playing with the toy I offered myself for Christmas: a BOSS GT-10! It’s a guitar multi effect and it’s incredible. I bought a GT-3 about 8 years ago and I’m chocked how improved this new version is. It also make recording much easier since I can connect it to my computer directly via USB. So, I’m fooling a bit around I hope to find time to record a few things soon. I quickly made a new recording of one short piece for guitar alone I put on my website about a year ago: Shame and Sorrow.
I know it’s a bit of a depressing track but I’m glad I managed to record it again because this sound is just an modified preset of the GT-10 with no additional effect or mastering and I think it sounds ok (although, the level is a bit too low but I’ll fix that). I recall I had to change the tune last time I recorded it because the lowest notes were actually too low and sounded all blured and ugly. This time, in 10 mintes, back in the original tonality, it sounds the way I like it without any modification after recording. I’m really thrilled when I think about what I’ll be able to do with this tool when I have time to really tame the best (this will likely wait until I’m done writing my thesis however ^^). Anyway, expect to hear again about my GT-10 very soon, I’m really happy I bought it!
Edit: It came to my attention that not everyone can listen to the music I posted. Obviously, the player doesn’t always load properly. So, if you can let me know if it works for you and what browser you use, it would be helpful for me.
Comment by Mouton
..or next year or the year after…
You have a 3 years more contract no? So plenty of time. P is ice-skating now?
Comment by Goulven
True enough, the opportunity will come but it looks like this was the coldest beginning of the year in 10 years and canals aren’t usually as frozen as that.
By the way, which P are you talking about? As far as I know none of the geochemistry Ps ice-skated on the canals.
Comment by Lulla
Thanks a lot for the pretty picture
It’s probably amazing to ice-skate on a river… More than on a skating-rink, I guess 
Maybe would you have a chance to try it before the end of the winter : it’s quite early now.
And, of course, I apologize for my very poor English… I don’t practise enough T_T
Comment by admin
The truth about ice skating is that I’m very bad! However, walking on the ice sounded like a fun thing to do but, to be really safe, you want the layer of ice to be thick enough and it doesn’t happen so often.
Well, maybe next year then… ^^
And your English is just fine. Better, you can read my blog to practice a little, how cool is that? :p
Comment by Marine
C’est vrai, j’arrive tard mais j’avais pensé à toi : yavait un article dans le journal sur les canaux gelés de Hollande et tous ces gens qui patinaient dessus…Je me demandais ce que ça donnait à Utrecht et si tu avais essayé.
Comment by admin
J’ai rien contre la glace mais, par contre, quiconque m’a vu sur des patins te confirmera que je suis aussi a l’aise qu’un hareng dans la purée de groseilles (Maeva par exemple s’en souvient peut être).
Cela dit, l’an prochain, je tacherai de marcher sur les canaux gelés, ça a l’air marrant!