Up up and away...

What a wonderful week in Val D'Isere. The sunwas out, the sky was blue, there was still plenty of snow and we were all on top form! This is the sort of holiday that we dream about (well we do if we like to ski at any rate). It was a week of late long lunches and dancing in ski boots. The parapents were out in force as the warm breezes seemed to be able to keep them in the air for hours.

> The chalet was being run by two boys who were very helpful, brought me tea in bed most mornings and cooked us some great food. They were also (I think) taken aback with the exploits of a group of middle aged (middle aged to a chaleroony is anything over 30) ski bums who seemed to have a thirst for alcohol and partying that eaqualed any of their mates.

This is me and the Curlybob sitting outside after lunch one afternoon before we embarked on 2 hours of dancing in the sunshine... it's a great way to start someone's 50th Birthday celebrations... only 4 days to go now baldy!!!

Friday the13th

Some years ago I decided to leave these shores and go to live in the Nederlands. I had a friend that was stationed there at a military base in the south in a place called Brunssum and he knew of a lady whose daughter had just got married and moved out and she was looking to take in a lodger so it all seemed ideal.

I remember telling my bosses at the time that I'd decided to head off to pastuers new and them both being remarkably supportive telling me that they'd be glad to have me back if they were still around when and if I got back. I was only 17 at the time, I'd just passed my driving test and I'd spent the previous summer at a Pontins holiday camp in Hemsby-on-Sea living with the lifeguard (the love of my life). We'd drifted apart since we had to come home and I wasn't all that happy about it so I suppose I was running away.

I booked to take a ferry out of Felixtowe and then the ferry man went on strike, so I tried to book a ferry out of Hull but again the strike was spreading so eventually I booked myself a flight out of Gatwick to Maastricht. This was you have to remember in the days before cheapo flights so I couldn't fly from anywhere close at anything like a reasonable price.

Did I bother to say that I made the decision to move on the Tuesday and I'd done all this booking/not booking/booking to fly by the Friday!

I asked my best friend Sarey to take me to the airport (which was a big deal for her at the time as she'd never driven to Gatwick) but she was happy to do so and assured my Mum that she could come along too. My Mum was convinced I'd never come back and it was all because of a broken heart (all together now ahhhhhhhhhh!).

I packed my life into a massive suitcase, put on the 3 layers of clothes that wouldn't fit in the case and strapped by skateboard to my back and practiced walking round the living room to make sure I'd be able to carry everything. I'd arranged that someone was going to pick me up from the airport so it wouldn't be too bad but I did need to ba able to move around the airport etc. We packed up the little VW polo and all three of us piled in for the journey, equipped with a map and driving directions.

To say this was a fogy morning would not be doing it justice, it was pea soup! We had allowed 5 hours for the journey even though it was estimated at 3. We found our way down the M1 and onto the M25 and though our progress was slow it was steady...... that was until the little car had a blow out! We got out, and unpacked the boot to get to the spare tyre.... which was flat! We called the RAC who to be fair got there in some reasonable time and loaded us onto a low loader. We still had 2 hours to be there and the taffic reports said that flights were being delayed due to the bad fog. We got off the motorway heading for the garage and the low loader had a puncture! We waited for another one! It picked us all up and took us to the garage. The men at the garage were very quick at changing the tyre... probably due to me jumping up and down and pleading with them that I needed to be at the airport.

We were back on our way with 3/4rs of an hour before my plane was due to take off. We got to the airport with 25 minutes to spare. Sarey dropped me & mum off and went to park. We ran through the airport looking for the check in desk... that took us 10 minutes and when I got there it was closed! My plane was one of the only planes that was on time and about to leave... I pleaded with the KLM desk but to no avail, the plane was taking off and I wasn't on it. They could get me on a flight to Schiphol that was leaving in 30 minutes, I paid the extra and tried to calm Mum down who was now totally convinced I shouldn't go, all the odds were against me and I could always re-arrange to go the following week. I was having none of it! Sarey had found us and tried to ease Mum's fraustration saying that I'd be fine, I always was. I had to run through the airport with all my luggage as the luggage had already been loaded so it would be put on at the gate.

I kissed and hugged the closest women in my life, asking them to phone ahead and tell my freinds that I'd got on another airplane to a different airport and I'd find a way to get to them once I'd landed and legged it!

A flurry of over-dressed mad girl pushing a trolley full of luggage with a skateboard strapped to her back, crazy curly long hair flying behind her doing warp factor 7 through the corridors of Gatwick with endless streams of sour faced business man and families going on threir holibobs looking behind her for the man with a gun!

I boarded the plane and they were waiting for me with a man to take my luggage to the hold. Everyone was already seated and I was after the captain and the walking wounded... I was also wearing 3 layers of my heaviest clothes as I'd been told it wasn't the warmest time of year in Brunssum... that could not be said for the plane. There was a huge round of applause from a group of men wearing blazers and looking like they'd been partaking of monumental amounts of alcohol... they had, it was a rugby team on tour. I took my isle seat in front of them and sighed as we almost immediately pushed back for take off. The rugby team recited the plane safety announcement along with the stewardesses and then ordered me a beer when they came round with the trolley. I decided that it was best to just relax and wonder what the hell I was going to do once we landed. This was the 3rd time that I'd flown in my life and the 1st on my own. I was flying to a country where they spoke another language (yes I know now that all Dutch people speak at least 5 languages but I didn't know that then) and I was going to be at the other end of the country than where I was supposed to be... with no mobile phone and only the number of my friend at work and my new house mate's flat... no address just AFCENT military base.

I noticed that the man who sat across the isle from me was strangely familiar but I just smiled and said hello and tried to work out who the heck he was.... As we were leaving the plane, he leaned over to me and said "Did you watch Howrds Way?" (a Sunday night ritual for me and my Mum) "Yes" I replied and then felt the colour rushing to my face as I realised it was none other than Tony Anholt who played Charles Frere. Internally I was dying, not only was he gorgeous, I hadn't recognised him and he was being really sweet. He stood talking to me as we waited for our bags and I recalled the events of the day, he laughed and asked what I was going to do... "I suppose I can get a train" was my answer. He assured me that the train station was only over the road from the arrivals department and that the trains were very good in Holland.

When my case arrived I asked him if he would mind watching it for a couple of minutes while I popped to the ladies and as he was still waiting for his bag (mine was obviously first off) he was kind enough to do so. I went to the ladies, took off 2 layers of clothes, pushed my fingers through my hair, splashed some cold water on my face and re-applied my lippy. I emerged from the ladies a different person and started laying my heavy clothes on my bag. "What happened to the rest of you?" said Tony just as an announcement came over the speaker system telling me to contact the main reception desk. "I've got my bag, I'll show you where it is if you like." I was very excited, I was being shown around an airport by a TV star... I got my mesage that I was to phone this number and Tony lent me some change to use the payphone. I called and got through to Lynne my new flat mate who explained that I needed to get the train to Sittard and she would meet me at the station. The trains ran every half an hour and I should be bale to get the next one in 25 minutes.

Tony showed me where the station was and gave me a peck on the cheek and wished me luck. I thought my knees were going to buckle and ran off to buy my ticket. I boarded the tarin with a big grin on my face and when the conductor came and checked my ticket I asked him where I should get off for Fittard (yes wobbly legs, mashed brain) to be told the train didn't go to a place called Fittard and maybe I should try Sittard instead, we would be there in 90 minutes.

I finally arrived at the station and got off to find a waiting Lynne who recognised me immediately (probably due to the skateboard and piles of luggage) and welcomed me with open arms, a big smile and a bottle of beer, which my friend had told her I'd be needing.

The rest as they say is history!

Travel on Friday the 13th..... after that... Why not?

Happy Birthday Blog!!

I'd like to say happy birthday to the blog... not mine obviously but to the blog as a whole. It's been here on the net for 10 years and it's giving a whole load of us a means of keeping a diary/making a statement/keeping in touch/posting our photos and generally giving us an outlet for our ramblings.

I know not everyone thinks that there is any merit in a blog but for me it's a way I can get my feelings in some sort of order. It's a place for me to ramble on about all sorts of meaningless (to most people) stuff. I can congratulate my friends on their acheivements in my small public way. I can catalogue my days, show off my photos and wax lyrical about my bears.

T'is Easter weekend and after taking my friend to the airport this morning... maybe with a small headache after a rather heavy night out... I have been busy cleaning my car, tidying up the garden and getting fiercely attacked by my pampas grass!

I trust that all the rest of the blogging community is having a fun time and I hope that you all get lots of choclate eggs to eat tomorrow!!!

Nearly time for Hot X Buns!

Firstly I have to say well done and hard luck to me old mate Nico who after a valliant effort saw England lose to Sri Lanka by only 2runs. Considering he's a wicket keeper he put up a good fight batting last night.

As it's nearly Easter....

http://www.eggsedu.org.uk/omelette_game/default.htm

Did you know?


In the computing world, Easter eggs are kind of undocumented features, messages, graphics, sound effects etc, which are invoked in response to some undocumented set of user actions. There have been instances of complete flight simulator program embedded in a spreadsheet program. Similarly there are certain undocumented features exists, right there on your Novell Linux Desktop.
Open source application means you have access to source code. This makes it little difficult to include easter eggs in the applications. Despite of that developers of open source application have managed to include some easter eggs in open source. This article includes easter eggs within Gnome and some of the most popular open source applications.

http://www.meddybemps.com/easter/egghunt.html

In my world eggs are something that go best with mushrooms and are often eaten late at night in sandwhiches with branston pickle.

So now what?

April Fool!

Back from Andorra and feeling somewhat shattered. It was a big week, didn't get too much skiing in but did get to trail a couple of new skis and settled on a new pair of Volkl supersports which are wonderful.

The big news which I thought was an April Fool for a start is that Moose is withdrawing his blog. It's a bit of a shocker to say the least. I'd got used to having a virtual world to escape to when the rest of the world was a bit too much for me. I'll miss the Moose blog and canonly hope that we can all find somewhere else we can communicate as a community. I have made friends... Susan S, Hazel Love, Gaby, MfR, DWNB, MWK, Anna, Chrissie S, Ammanda, Sammie, Jollygit, Caroline, Joe McC, EG, eg (Scotland), Annalog, T, Keith (the Big Un), Jo, Mariella W, and most of all Moose... If I've missed anyone then I'm sure you'll let me know. I've really had a great time and look forward to keeping in touch.

Please don't let's all fall apart now.

I've not even started my book yet!

Is spring starting to be sprung?

What a beautiful morning and what a lovely time to be up and about early with the bears. Booboo (above) is just a constant bundle of energy and loves nothing more than galloping around the fields in the morning seeing what nasties she can find to roll in. Whereas Roobear (below) is more your "let's take our time and enjoy the sunshine" kind of a bear.

Happy Birthday to Roo!

It's Roobear's 14th Birthday today which makes her (in human years) 98 years old!

She deserves lots of spoiling today so we're going to have rice and chicken for dinner and then doggie cholcolate for pud.

It doesn't seem that long ago when I went to see her just hours after she was born in an outhouse of a local pub, the 11th daughter of Remie the beautiful pub dog.

Long Live my Bears!!!!

Morning after the night before....

I had to go and meet H the next day to return his credit cards and room key (though I think that was a bit late). He did manage to get into his room and looked surprisingly good the next day (unlike me I might add). He said his dinner suit was white with bear hair and he’d given up trying to shake it off, put it in a plastic bag and thought it best to just drop it off at the dry cleaners. He bought me a coffee at a place I know en route home and we had a giggle about the night before. He apologised for anything he might have said or done but was relieved that I didn’t think he had much to be bothered about. He loves my bears and it turns out he has a black Labrador called Poppy himself so he’s gone way up in my estimation. I think he might have given me a few “in roads” in our conversation that morning saying things like …
“I loved your house by the way, the rooms up in the roof space were lovely” which could have been a way for me to invite him back? And then when talking about our dogs (as we did for ages) he said
“It’s the total unconditional love you get from a dog isn’t it? I mean I’d like to think I’ll find a wife that is the same one day” to which I answered…
“Never gonna happen is it?”
“Well I can live in hope” … and I still didn’t pick up on any comeback from me… Oooh I hate hangovers!
Well we have a presentation coming up in March and he suggested that he’d get some of his other investors to come up to Leicester and we should all go out for a few drinks and a curry afterwards and write off the next day staying in the hotel where the presentation is. So I’ve booked a room! Also I’m organising a ski trip for my best mate and business partner Curly in April which he said he would like to take a look at the details for as it might be something he’s up for. All in all I think we get on ok, though I must admit I think he might be looking for a younger, slimmer model than myself. We’ll have to wait and see. Any helpful insights are more than welcome!

Epilogue

So much for Bridgit Jones and her singledom lifestyle...

I'm not exactly good at thinking of everyone else around me once I reach my alcohol saturation and tiredness point (AST). Thursday was no exception. I had got 3 house guests on Thursday night, a colleague (J) that I work alongside who stays at my house while he's in the country and a couple (M&M) who have been involved in the Bahamas project for some time.The idea that we'd invite some of our clients to this benefit bash seemed a great idea.

I'd been very organised and ordered a taxi back from LCFC (venue for the "do") at 12.45am, a journey of about 25 miles so a good idea to get that sorted out before starting on the champagne. I had also invited one of our investors as my guest and arranged to meet him at the venue at 6.30pm after giving him directions to his hotel and the venue. So far so good.... you might think.... well it all started very well. Champagne reception, my guest was there on time as arranged and mingling with the best of them. Then onto the main event where we had one of the best tables in the room next to the main man (Nico) right at the front of the room with the other 450 people filling up the rest of the room. We sat in our allocated positions around the table and my guest (H) asked where my partner was tonight?.... now let me tell you a little secret.... I invited H as I had an idea he was single, knew he was not married and to be honest he's not entirely unattractive... that and the fact that he's introduced quite a few investors so it was a politically good move...
I answered "I'm single, I don't have a partner. That's one of the reasons I invited you along as my guest." .... I know it was a bit of a risk but I thought it was worth a go.... "So shall we call this a date then?" came the reply.... Hooray for me I thought!

Now anyone who's read my rantings before will know I'm not averse to a few glasses of vino collapso and have been known to have a few too many on occassions, well let me tell you something... I'm an amateur! This H guy drank faster and faster as the night went on and even though I was trying to match every glass of wine I drank with a glass of water he was topping my glass up as soon as I took a sip. Don't get me wrong here I'm not saying that I was taking it easy, I most certainly was doing my bit for the table's consumption figures. We talked, we laughed, we drank and we danced. My "date" was being attentive and entertaining me with his tales of ski holidays gone by whilst making sure that no-ones glass was ever half empty. My house guests all seemingly having fun as well.

Now you remember how well organised I'd been with the taxi? Well the one thing I might not have explained that well is that once i reach that AST I go onto autopilot and make my way home so when I received a call from my taxi driver to say he was outside I did what I always do. Got my jacket on, said my taxi had arrived and made my way down to the car... along with H hot on my heels. I did apparrently wait for all of 5 minutes for the rest of my houseguests before telling my driver we could leave and asking him to send another car for the rest of my party. I even sent J a text to say I'd left and was sending him another car. It wasn't until half way down the M69 motorway that H asked me where abouts I was going "home" said I... "Is that anywhere near my hotel?" said H.... "no" was my reply. And the taxi went on.

20 minutes later I'm at my house with H making coffee and discussing what beautiful bears I have. 10 minutes later the rest of my houseguests arrive with J giving me daggers about leaving them behind but adding that he had explained to M&M that he was aware I'd just leave them behind in my current state as I'd done it on more than one occassion before (ooops! What sort of a hostess am I?) Luckily I think everyone seemed to see the funny side and the next thing I knew H was rolling around on the floor in his dinner suit and dickie bow with my two dogs falling all over him and covering the suit in their lovely pale labrador hair. The once black suit would never be the same again!

Coffee, brandy and more small talk later I went for the next stage of my hostess with the leastess routine and took myself off to bed without saying goodnight... only to find I was followed by a fur ball who alledgedly came up the stairs on all fours doing a bear impression. I thought it was best that I order him another taxi to take him back to Leicester (yes another 25 miles in a taxi) as this was not my idea of how a first date should end up. So another taxi turned up and H made his way back to his hotel room and I finally got myself to bed...4am!

When I woke at 6.30am I noticed a message on my mobile... "I'm missing some credit cards. Are they at your place? Sorry I just got back (mad taxi driver!)" After a little investigation I found 2 credit cards bearing H's name and a key card for a hotel room which I assumed he might have needed to get in. I sent a reply to give him the good news, drank a litre bottle of water and tried to go back to sleep, unsuccesfully. It seems that not only did I leave my guests at the party, I sent my "date" back to his hotel with no room key! He told me later that he had to blag his way back in after a harrowing journey with a nightmare driver by bribing the night porter, thank goodness he had some cash! Somehow I think I need to work on my people skills!!!

A better day

Sunday... a far nicer day. After my hangover from hell on Friday, which I might add was still with me at 7.20pm when I was forced to go out, have a couple (note the couple) of glasses of Stella and a curry, home by 11pm, Saturday was a steady day. It was LCFC against WBA (a team who I have an alliegence to due to freinds who I have in West Brom) though when we're in the same league the gloves are off. It was a good result for us 1-1 and I headed back to meet up with Mimi and Jon to watch the rugby.... not so good.... was happy to go home and forget about it.

So after an early night I feel refreshed again and am almost ready to relate some of the funny stories from Thursday night...

The Do

Well the "do" was great fun. We went to the champagne reception from 6.30-7.30 then to the main event at the Walkers Staduim. With a star studded guest list Nico had a full turnout and was really well supported.

Unfortunately the fizzy stuff did it's normal triick of making the rest of the wine seem quite calm in comparison and we were soon all quite squiffy. I didn't get many photos but the couple that are here are of me (pre-do) and Nico with Keri (teeny totty) and Sandra at our table.

We all had a lovely time and the band were fab (though I can't remember what they were called). I managed not to bid for anything in the auction... which is good for me as I've been known to part with some silly money for stuff at these things in the past. I think our table did have to pay some huge amount for a magnum of Champagne that we are now saving for when we get our planning permission agreed for Long Island.

For some reason I woke this morning to find that my purse was empty and there was a small man with a large hammer inside my head. It's now nearly 4pm and I'm still feeling very fragile.

I may blog again later but for now I must rest....zzzzzzzzzz

Thoughtful

Do you sometimes have weekends when you get the chance to think about your life and wonder how you could change/improve/adapt it somehow? Well I just had a bit of a weekend like that. I went to see my boys win 3-0 on Saturday which was great and then had to go pick up Curly who had been watching from a corporate box. When I got there there was a guy in the box who I recognised as someone I knew from years ago who was a friend of a friend. Anyway I phoned said friend the next day to say that I'd seen his mate at the footy and made comment about the fact that he'd lost an awful lot of weight and how well he was looking. Turns out the guy had lymphoma cancer 4 years ago, had to have massive chemotherapy, went off the rails, spent huge amounts of dosh etc thinking he was on his way out and then got the all clear.He now has diabetis as a result of the drugs he has to take. As you can imagine that kinda stopped me in my tracks a bit. There was me thinking "hasn't he done well to lose all that weight" and it wasn't like that at all. It sort of puts things into perspective a little. I mean we'd all like to lose a few pounds but that wouldn't be our preferred method for weight loss.

So that got me thinking about changes I'd like to make for myself without them being forced on me. I'd like to lose a few pounds so I've decided to cut out all the wheat products that I know are not suited to me and take a little more exercise. I'd like to have a bit more order in my house so I've decided to buy a wall unit or shelves to put my books and dvds on so they're not just piled up making me mad. I'd like to meet more single men so I've decided that me and Mimi should go out somewhere new every 2 weeks so that we have to mix with new people. They're little things but at least they're things I can do for myself.

Happy St Valentines Day!

Hopefully some of you will have had more exciting presents and cards than I did... not that I'm bitter... Oh no! My valentines prezzie was Nico getting his call up for the England World Cup side. He was on TV earlier and even managed to mention our Bahamas property projec, there's just no stopping the man. Roll on next Thursday and his first benefit night.

And me, I'm off to the valentines virtual dance with the rest of my blogger mates, I've been polishing my red patent stillies and have a bottle of Ponche to slip in the punch! Later I'll be watching the Brits with Mimi and scoffing my mexican fajitas to soak up the alcofrol!

Keep happy readers!

Wins all round

What a great weekend! LCFC won 2-0 away from home at Ipswich (first time since 1988)England won the rugby against Italy and then to put the cherry on the icing on the cake England beat the Ozzies down under to win the tri nations ODI tornament!

I'm going to raise a glass to Nico and the lads later this afternoon and probably have to have an early night, getting up at 3am to watch a cricket match takes its toll on a girl you know!

White Stuff!!!!!!

Yippee!!! The snow fell and it's all pretty and white outside.

My bears were bouncing around like puppies as we walked through the winter wonderland which we woke to this morning. Even Roobear was happy to go that little way further than on a normal morning. Booboo was in here element rushing around and burying her nose in the snow.

It's so much fun to see kids acting like kids for once, wrapped up in their warm clothes with hats and scarves on pulling sledges and carrying anything that they think they can sit on to slide down the nearest hill.

The pictures were taken on my morning bear walk along by the canal and through the woods... awwwww isn't it purdy?

Missed stuff

Last night after I'd been out for dinner with one of my new ski buddies in London to a place called Soho Spice (really nice food!) I decided that I might be pushing it to get back to my friend (P's) place to pick up my bags and then back to Euston by means of the tube so opted for a taxi. I gave my buddie a kiss goodnight and hopped in the cab and asked Mr Cabbie to take me to Upper Woburn Walk and then my phone rang. It was one of Curlys mates who wanted to talk to me about his 50th birthday party ski trip in April. After about 5 minutes the cabbie asked me if he should turn right or left... which is when I realised I had no idea where we were, in fact we were somewhere near Chelsea.... Nowhere near Euston or my friends house where all my bags were AGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! "Woburn Place!! Near Tavistock Square, Hilton Euston!!!" I declared.
The cabbie, (red faced and apologetic) turned on his wheel and drove like the wind with me on the phone to P to ask her to bring my bags out to the road for as we passed. As we approached Tavistock Square I phoned P to tell her we were approaching, we rounded the corner of the square just as P dashed down Woburn Walk and threw my bags into the cab as we were passing at some miles per hour, we screamed into Euston and as I opened the door of the cab the cabbie was out of the drivers seat unloading the bags, I threw the driver a tenner (more than was deserved) ran up the escalator and just made my train... Good job really as it was the last train home!!!!

I threw myself down into my seat and asked for a large glass on vin rouge then had to keep myself awake so as not to miss my stop. There was quite a nice looking guy a couple of seats in front of me but for some reason I couldn't quite pick up the courage to move and say hi... sometimes my shyness is a bit debilitating (if that's the right word.. or indeed a word at all) so I had to make do with making jokes with the stewards.

My bears were very happy to see me home when I finally arrived at nearly midnight. One final glass of vino to round off the night then on with the heating (how cold is it?!!) and to bed!

How many things have you all nearly missed lately?

Talk soon peeps!

24 again...

So it was a draw for the foxes and a victory for the England boys at Twickers...



Another weekend goes by and I find myself sitting on my sofa with my bears at my feet thinking about next week and the things I have to acheive. Tomorrow I'm off to London, I will be staying with my friend in Bloomsbury tomorrow night and the bears will be abley looked after by a willing friend. I'm hoping I can catch up with a few of the people I met on holiday while I'm down there and have made tentative plans to do so.



Some of my closest friendships have been formed whilst on ski holidays. Whether it's the fact that there's a common interest or the fact that you spend time outside in the fresh air and then eat at the same table I don't know but it makes for a special bond. Again there is a food theme, its hard to fall out with anyone while breaking bread with them.


......
Must be Sunday night again it's Jack is back 24... how on earth does he stay alive and wouldn't it be great to have to talk to someone with that husky voice on the phone every day....Night night peeps :)

Injuries

I can't believe that I'm having to take antibiotics to treat the carpet burn on my foot from the holibob! "WHAT?" I hear you cry... what on earth can you have been up to on a ski holibob to get carpet burn?

It's a bit of a crazy story and it involves no hanky panky of the squelchy variety so anyone looking for smut can tune out now.

Two of the guys who were with us are brothers and a bit on the mad side (to say the least) and had gone out and bought some bangers (of the firework kind) which they thought it would be fun to throw off the balcony from their rooms onto the balconies of other guests (also in our party) shouting "ACHTUNG!!!!" for a bit of a laugh!

And one evening while lazing in their room drinking Desperado's and eating cheese and biscuits one of the said brothers decided to go onto the balcony for a ciggy (as smoking was not allowed in the rooms). The other bro decided it would be a bit of a jape if he put a lit banger out through the window onto the balcony to surprise his sibling.... unfortunately the sibling knew him ooh too well and no sooner than it was put through the window than it was back in the room!
With this I dived from the bed I was lying on doing a Bodie & Doyle stylee emergency roll onto the floor away from the banger which let off an almighty kaboom and blew up emitting smoke and bits of flying debris. A lot of squealing and laughing then followed with Gimp (made up name) leaping onto the bed with a pillow to put over the fire alarm so as not to set off the sprinklers and have us all evicted on our 2nd night!

I obviously suffered the injury in my ski and walking boots so as not to upset my skiing/partying/general holibob making, but since I returned my foot has started to swell and the injury has got angry.... hence the antibiotics!

Honest Injun!!!!!

Holibob Snaps

This is Lyndyloo, Sue and AJ at the top of the Grande Motte at nearly 3500 meters. It was a bright blue sky day with wonderful snow conditions and a day to enjoy time with new friends. Shame that the wind decided to make itself a nuicance and stop the cable car from running or we'd have had to make the run more than just the once!

We skied from our base at La Daille to the far corners of the ski area and had the best time anyone could want from a ski holibob!!

The run into Tignes Les Breviers... This was one of the best days skiing ever! It might have been cold but the scenery was stunning and the snow was perfect! The restaurant at the bottom was colder inside than out but the food made up for the waitress who was all bustle and not much action.

The view from the top of the Grande Motte

The eye above Tignes Les Breviers

L'Espace Killy Area http://www.valdisere.com/gb/domaine/plan/planpiste.php

Back in the UK!

Well my holibob is over and it was great! Have met some fab people, skied in some glorious weather and had a thoroughly good time. The photie on the left is of Martin, Me and Dangermouse Dave (who is 65 on his 2nd ski holiday and by the end of the week was skiing blacks off the top of the Grande Motte with us!). What a great outlook on life, it's true you're never too old to start something new or have fun! Of course there's loads to tell and lots of photos that were taken but suffice to say that a good time was had by all and it was a long way home on a coach that left at 5.45am for an 11am flight from Geneva especially when you and your new friends have decided not to go back to the chalet for dinner but instead to spend horrific amounts of euros on pink champagne shellfish and wonderful stuff in general till 2am in the morning!

I'd like to say thanks to my new found friends for helping make this one of the best ski holidays I've had for some time and a huge thanks to the ex lodger for looking after the bears so well. They were so happy to see me... that's why dogs are so great... they never sulk when you come home, no matter how long it's been.