OddThinking

My father, Joe, introduced John W. to the love of skiing. Soon John was just as keen at skiing.

Around 1987, John jokingly presented a bill to Joe – John had worked out that his skiing habit had cost him about $AU10 per kilometre.

They once found themselves bickering over who was the more avid skier. Living almost a thousand kilometres from the nearest ski field made it difficult to arrange ski trips, and they debated who had more frequent ski trips that year versus who had spent the most days skiing. John made a claim that recency was important; that is, John was a more avid skier because he had skied later in the season. That argument struck a chord with Joe.

Joe secretly emptied the ice machines at the University each night for a week, storing up several rubbish bins full of crushed ice in the freezer room. Then one weekend, on a hot (30°C) day, he made two thin trails of crushed ice down the slope outside of the Biology building. He donned a full ski outfit, and skied down it at a hair-raising speed. (It was a rather dangerous stunt – with so little ice, it was impossible for him to dig in and slow down.)

Photographic evidence was gathered, and the more preparations were made.

John came to work on Monday to discover signs in the car-park warning that snow-chains were required, warnings in the lift to keep your ski-tips up and posters with headlines decrying the recent success (“Why? Because it wasn’t there.”). For the final insult, there was a sign on his office door explaining that beginner ski lessons were available inside.