This week just gone.

  A crazy, busy week in Val d’isere. Not for us lazy ski bums obviously but the French half term proved to be just as mad as promised and now the English have arrived!! This little French village has 1,800 year round habitants and in peak weeks like now and Christmas and Easter, the population swells to over 30,000!

 What happens though is that the mountain is crawling with people jostling for room and the village is pretty buzzing with activity but the bars are empty as, quite rightly, the children are not welcome in them. This place actually is not designed for small children and there are few restaurants equipped to cater to the little ones let alone the bars, which really are not family friendly.

  But we have avoided the slopes bar one or two days this week and have successfully avoided being caught up in the madness of half term.

   We did have to be good Samaritans last Sunday though as we ended up as chaperone to a British guy on his own, who could not ski, had no idea what the difference in the slopes are and who was booked in to lessons starting the next day, Monday. We found him stranded on probably one of the hardest, steepest, busiest red slopes in the resort (the infamous Piste M for those that know, and that would easily be a black anywhere else). He was a third of the way down and completely stuck, he thought he was on a beginner’s slope until he was on it and then it is too late, no other way down apart from on your ass or on a stretcher!! He stopped Mr and asked if we were English and if so could we help him down. It normally takes us 10 mins to ski that treacherous run, it took us at least 45. You should’nt laugh but it was hilarious watching him falling and slipping, but we were not that evil, I taught him how to slide sideways and we made it to the bottom in one piece. We never saw him again. I hope he is still alive and well!!! 

   But apart from being a lifesaver we had a fabulous dinner for my bosses’ birthday on Thursday evening. There were 13 of us, all older, all rather much more civilised than the normal rabble surrounding us, and it was a really lovely evening. Went to a restaurant that we had’nt been to before, bit out of the main village and it felt like we were somewhere completely different. The food was fantastic, the wine flowed well and the atmosphere very chilled out. Nice.  I was a little concerned leading up to it as there was going to live music after dinner and I don’t need to remind you that I am sick to the back teeth of live music but these guys were actually brilliant. 4 of them, all guitars (which I normally really despise) a couple of maracas and some very tuneful, easy going sound’s going on. Made a nice change, felt like we were on holiday!

  A crazy, busy week in Val d’isere. Not for us lazy ski bums obviously but the French half term proved to be just as mad as promised and now the English have arrived!! This little French village has 1,800 year round habitants and in peak weeks like now and Christmas and Easter, the population swells to over 30,000!

 What happens though is that the mountain is crawling with people jostling for room and the village is pretty buzzing with activity but the bars are empty as, quite rightly, the children are not welcome in them. This place actually is not designed for small children and there are few restaurants equipped to cater to the little ones let alone the bars, which really are not family friendly.

  But we have avoided the slopes bar one or two days this week and have successfully avoided being caught up in the madness of half term.

   We did have to be good Samaritans last Sunday though as we ended up as chaperone to a British guy on his own, who could not ski, had no idea what the difference in the slopes are and who was booked in to lessons starting the next day, Monday. We found him stranded on probably one of the hardest, steepest, busiest red slopes in the resort (the infamous Piste M for those that know, and that would easily be a black anywhere else). He was a third of the way down and completely stuck, he thought he was on a beginner’s slope until he was on it and then it is too late, no other way down apart from on your ass or on a stretcher!! He stopped Mr and asked if we were English and if so could we help him down. It normally takes us 10 mins to ski that treacherous run, it took us at least 45. You should’nt laugh but it was hilarious watching him falling and slipping, but we were not that evil, I taught him how to slide sideways and we made it to the bottom in one piece. We never saw him again. I hope he is still alive and well!!! 

   But apart from being a lifesaver we had a fabulous dinner for my bosses’ birthday on Thursday evening. There were 13 of us, all older, all rather much more civilised than the normal rabble surrounding us, and it was a really lovely evening. Went to a restaurant that we had’nt been to before, bit out of the main village and it felt like we were somewhere completely different. The food was fantastic, the wine flowed well and the atmosphere very chilled out. Nice.  I was a little concerned leading up to it as there was going to live music after dinner and I don’t need to remind you that I am sick to the back teeth of live music but these guys were actually brilliant. 4 of them, all guitars (which I normally really despise) a couple of maracas and some very tuneful, easy going sound’s going on. Made a nice change, felt like we were on holiday!

  A crazy, busy week in Val d’isere. Not for us lazy ski bums obviously but the French half term proved to be just as mad as promised and now the English have arrived!! This little French village has 1,800 year round habitants and in peak weeks like now and Christmas and Easter, the population swells to over 30,000!

 What happens though is that the mountain is crawling with people jostling for room and the village is pretty buzzing with activity but the bars are empty as, quite rightly, the children are not welcome in them. This place actually is not designed for small children and there are few restaurants equipped to cater to the little ones let alone the bars, which really are not family friendly.

  But we have avoided the slopes bar one or two days this week and have successfully avoided being caught up in the madness of half term.

   We did have to be good Samaritans last Sunday though as we ended up as chaperone to a British guy on his own, who could not ski, had no idea what the difference in the slopes are and who was booked in to lessons starting the next day, Monday. We found him stranded on probably one of the hardest, steepest, busiest red slopes in the resort (the infamous Piste M for those that know, and that would easily be a black anywhere else). He was a third of the way down and completely stuck, he thought he was on a beginner’s slope until he was on it and then it is too late, no other way down apart from on your ass or on a stretcher!! He stopped Mr and asked if we were English and if so could we help him down. It normally takes us 10 mins to ski that treacherous run, it took us at least 45. You should’nt laugh but it was hilarious watching him falling and slipping, but we were not that evil, I taught him how to slide sideways and we made it to the bottom in one piece. We never saw him again. I hope he is still alive and well!!! 

   But apart from being a lifesaver we had a fabulous dinner for my bosses’ birthday on Thursday evening. There were 13 of us, all older, all rather much more civilised than the normal rabble surrounding us, and it was a really lovely evening. Went to a restaurant that we had’nt been to before, bit out of the main village and it felt like we were somewhere completely different. The food was fantastic, the wine flowed well and the atmosphere very chilled out. Nice.  I was a little concerned leading up to it as there was going to live music after dinner and I don’t need to remind you that I am sick to the back teeth of live music but these guys were actually brilliant. 4 of them, all guitars (which I normally really despise) a couple of maracas and some very tuneful, easy going sound’s going on. Made a nice change, felt like we were on holiday!

Ps. It is snowing at last!!