I worked a lot with Finnish writer Reijo Ruokannen, a staffer with Iltalehti. He was good company and had a great nose for a story. Once we were driving on a snowy mountain road in Bosnia in the depth of winter. Along the road was a ravine which dropped probably 20 meters to a river. On a corner I lost control of the Volkswagen and it began sliding toward the edge. This was when I was living in sunny California, before I moved to Alaska. As we headed for the precipice and I frantically attempted to control the car, Reijo looked at me and said casually "Have you ever driven in the snow before?"