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People!!  If you don’t watch ~ what the hell are you doing?!  Here’s a link to the US site but if you get the chance to watch it on TV ~ DO IT!!!

That is all.

So we arrived home from Chamonix yesterday after a week in one of the most picturesque towns I have ever visited.  It was truly beautiful, surrounded by the Mont Blanc mountain range & for most of the time covered in beautiful white snow.

Ryan & I went with my brother Marc, his wife Gillian, Gill’s sister Kirsty, her husband Michael, their lovely one year old Beccie, Valerie, Marc & Gill’s friend & Chris their friend also.  We stayed in a very pretty chalet in the heart of Chamonix town which was very close to all the bus links & amenities ~ it was great!

The main bulk of the group were skiers, other than Ryan & myself.  Ryan is a snowboarder, as many of you may know.  I am ….. well, I’m more bambi on ice.  Useless to say the least ~ so much so that I disclocated my right knee on Friday morning! 

As I’ve said in previous postings, I hate the cold & the snow & despite what happened on this trip I have to say I’ve changed my mind.  It’s not the cold & snow I hate, it’s being cold & the snow being slushy.  I was prepared for the cold in France & didn’t feel it at any time, plus (in the main) the snow was beautiful as you will see from my photos, so it was much, much more enjoyable than I had anticipated it would be.  In fact it was so enjoyable playing in the snow that Ryan & I chose to write a message for Marc & Gill in it, so that it was visible from our second story balcony, check this out.

I didn’t snowboard much this week, actually only 3 mornings really.  I have definitely decided that it’s not for me though.  The final morning, I went to the top of the slope at Le Tour on my own, while Marc, Gill & Val went off up to another longer run & decided to give it one last crack.  One last crack is exactly what happened.  Heading down the slope, I made my first turn to the left (my worst side) & over I went, spinning & twisting until I ended up face down in the snow crying in agony.  Some very nice English skiers found me & made sure that I was taken down the mountain on a sledge being pulled by a ski paramedic & delivered to a near by doctor by ambulance, where he told me that I’d dislocated my knee.  Whoops!  Luckily it was the final afternoon of the holiday & not the first as it could have been (my performance wasn’t much better on the first morning either!), although it wasn’t very lucky for Marc.  He had to come to the medical centre to help me & in doing so missed out on the best afternoon’s skiing of the whole trip.  I’m really sorry Marc.

Although I didn’t do a lot of snow sports, I did get out & take the oppurtunity to play about with the camera a little.  The subject matter was so beatiful that it made it so easy to photograph at every turn.  The light is stunning & the shadows create such dramtic lines on the mountains, that you can’t help but photograph them ~ photographing the mountains was one reason why I was so excited to go to Chamonix, so I’m thrilled that I managed to get some good shots.

Ryan took his Nintendo Wii with him as well this week.  We had hours of fun playing tennis, bowling, boxing & lots of other silly games.  Gillian turned out to be the boxing champion, knocking out her own husband!!  It’s great fun watching people play the games, even when you’re not taking part. 

It was a great holiday in the same way as playing on the Wii, while I wasn’t really taking part in the skiing, I very much enjoyed myself & would like to go back one day, maybe this time to try my hand at skiing, as I clearly shouldn’t snowboard again!

In the news today:  Snow boarding lessons, travel news to foreign climbs & sickness sweeping the nation.

So I booked my first proper snow boarding lesson yesterday: Friday 12th January at 10.15am.  It will last 8 hours, or as long as I hold out & will no doubt be the second & last time I wear my bloody boots & attempt to throw myself down a mountain.

In much more exciting news, we only have 2 more sleeps until we leave for holiday!  I’ve only got one more day left at work as I’m off on Friday & we’re outta here.  Everything is sorted, we are packed, minus toothbrushes & last minute bits, I have the currency we need, clothes ready & cameras etc, so all we need to do now is give the keys to Liz & Al who will be house sitting while we are gone & then we’re done.

I’ve been rather poorly of late, so I’m hoping that I can shake it by Friday.  I am still in desperate need of more sleep ~ I had 18 hours last night & am still feeling crappy.  I’m banking on the fact that the sunny weather will make all the difference though & obviously seeing such exciting things will spur me on.  I’m sure it will.

That’s it for tonight, thank you for tuning in :0)

…. but good lord I don’t like snowboarding!  I bought a pair of snowboarding boots a few weeks ago in preparation for our trip to Chamonix in February & Ryan took me to the snow dome last Thursday to try them out ~ much to his utter joy I might add.  He was beside himself with excitement at the thought of me in snowboard boots, on snow.  I wasn’t.  This is how it went.

I got on the lift to take you to the top of the slope.  Now apparently, for any other human being with 4 fully functioning limbs, this task is simple.  For me, it’s more like an exercise in utter humiliation & degradation.  First time, within 5 seconds I was face down in the snow being dragged up a ‘mountain’ with Ryan yelling ’stand up!  Stand up!’.  Now for those that know me well, I don’t need to tell you the profanities that came out of my mouth.  For those that don’t know me well ~ you’re lucky.  Second time up the lift, I was encouraged by the fact that I made it up further that time ~ on my face ~ oh what sweet joy.  Not.  The third & final time of being dragged face down & humiliated, all I remember was yelling at Ryan that he could stick his board up his mountain & storming off down the slope, with my board tucked safely under my arm.

When I had finally calmed down, Ryan convinced me that I shouldn’t let it get the better of me & that I should give it another shot.  I compromised with the fact that I would walk up the ‘mountain’ & attempt to snowboard down.  This is how that went.

First time, I fell backwards, banging my head on solid ice.  Nice.  Second time I lost control & went careering down the slope, while Ryan raced past me & courageously threw himself in my path to stop me.  Imagine an out of control bus flying down a hill & the Keanu Reeves character jumps on board & saves the day …. that’s almost how it looked only Ryan got flattened underneath me.  At least he stopped me from maiming anymore innocent by standers though ~ every cloud has a silver lining I suppose.  The third time I tried to make my way down, saw me fall on my back with a loud & painful thud.  That is where my snowboarding lesson (& almost my relationship with Ryan) ended. 

I hate being cold.  I hate being wet.  I hate falling over & I hate being so bad at something that I want to tear my own arms off in order to hit the people that smarmily say ‘you were doing so well then before you fell over’.

I have foolishly agreed that I will take another lesson, although this time I will be taught by a professional, more for Ryan’s physical well being & the preservation of our relationship than the fact that Ryan’s a bad teacher.  He’s not, I’m just a very unruley & useless student.

Bring on Chamonix!!