Chilly!!!

Blimey it’s been cold. I know, I know, we are at altitude,1850 meters above sea level to be precise, we are in the mountains, we knew it was gonna be cold, we’ve been here before, we knew what to expect, but bloody hell!


We have had some great days skiing now that the slopes are open, brilliant blue skies, bright white never ending snow and amazing snow conditions as well as empty slopes as there are hardly any tourist’s yet. Although we had one day this week where it started snowing when we woke up but then it got harder and harder and harder and lasted all day and night. Mr had the great idea of getting up to the glacier that day, 3,488 meters above sea level, we made it halfway before we were snow blind, buried and stuck in snow up to our calves before giving it up as a bad job. Added to the fact that we saw no one else after a certain point made us realise that maybe it was not a good idea! Back to the warmth and comfort of our little home.

After a whole days snow fall the last couple of days have been excellent on the mountain, but clear skies mean cold, cold, cold. The warmest it has been has been -8, but averaging on -15/-19, then this morning it was -23!!!!!! F*CKING cold. Today I have frozen. I was wearing 2 sets of thermals, insulating socks plus ski socks, plus 2 extra tops and my ski clothes!! I have battery operated boot heaters (which are not bloody working properly), I have glove liners and I had a headband and hood up under my helmet!!!And my neck warmer was tucked into my goggles to protect my face! I had to keep my gloves on at lunch in the restaurant (a little treat to warm us up) and it was still cold inside the restaurant, they did not have their fires on!! How cold does it have to be before they put the heating on for god’s sake????

Am I a bit feeble or is this normal?? I have been consuming meat and dairy in a bid to ward off the cold and it does not seem to helping, I had so many clothes on today I could not bend over to take my ski boots off!!!!! What else can I do to warm up?? Apart from stay indoors I hear you say!!!!! I am confident that I will acclimatise at some point, I’ve got to haven’t I? When we were living in Australia after 8 months 23 degrees felt chilly!!

But enough of my moaning about the cold, that is the way it is and it will get much colder at some point so I will stop bitching and get on with it!! (Although, I’m not entirely sure Mr would believe me saying that last statement!!!)

We have other developments though, work will begin on Wednesday, got an early start though, bloody 10 am!!! He, He, only kidding, It is a 10 am start though! Back in the summer whilst I was emailing business owners out here in Val I had quite a positive response to getting a bit of work. One contact emailed me this week wanting to meet up and discuss something she had for me. We met up for a drink the other evening to have a chat and go from there, Mr and I met her and her husband, a lovely couple from Woking who have been running an apartment rental company here for the last 5 years. What a great way to have an interview, cosy little wooden bar, a glass of wine and a good old chat. That was it. I start weds! Now would’nt it be nice if everything was done like that?

Tonight we are off to a fortieth birthday in a bar with some people we met last week, ( god I hope they are not the swinging set Mr Robinson!!) the lady who knows everything and everyone invited us to meet up with all the other normal people out here. So should be a good night. I had a lovely comment from my friend K a few days back regarding what to wear to this party. I hate to admit it but I may be changing, for the first time in my life I had’nt really given it a second thought. I knew it was like this but people really do not dress up. I have not seen a single other girl in a skirt or dress apart from me and those of you that know me know that I was always covered in dangling earrings, bundles of bangles and chains of necklaces and rows of pearls but I am sorry to say that they just get in the way when you are layering up with scarves, hats, gloves etc, etc and metal gets sodding cold (and we all know where I am with that at the moment!!) I have barely worn a pair of earrings! I will sort that out at once, I promise I will not turn into one of the boring basics brigade! But I would feel a bit of a pratt turning up in what I may have worn at home, but I am going to stick to my guns and do as I promised and try to add a little glam to the never ending sea of jeans and jumpers. Maybe I’ll mix things up and wear a jumper with a skirt!! That’ll shock ‘em!!

Hope you are all keeping well and not too fed up with the snow back in the UK!

E xxxx