Day 59

A full day off, two undemanding, if a little odd, guests in the chalet, and the promise of a full days glorious sunshine all sitting in perfect harmony with the fact that there are almost less days to go than we have already done mean today is a good day. It shows that we're adapting to life here when we consider 9am to be a lie-in but it does and means we're up and eating toast and quaffing coffee in preparation for our epic and daunting 2 hour ski lesson.

There are tantrums and nerves from Natasha mostly surrounding the prospect of riding the chair lift (the last time we rode it together we ended up on our bums or skiing on our knees - my fault obviously.

The pull of the lesson was to explore Morillon. The few runs we could do in Samoens had got old and far too many children getting in our way which would surely only get worse as the busy February period kicked in. A little pressure from Su added it our need to get up there, shut her up once and for all. But I was keen to kick on and become more proficient at this skiing lark and I know deep down Natasha was too.

Chucking our ski stuff in the back of the Polo we headed off, but before we could we had to extract the ever eager LuLu from her perch on the backseat of the car. For a cat so fat and lazy she is a sneak and suddenly appears in front of you. Or leaps through the tiny window above our bed and onto us for a night fright if we're lucky. As comical as the idea of taking her with us up the gondola she is turfed out and were off.

We she'll out €80 for the 2 hour lesson begrudgingly, even though it is half price for us seasonairs and park up at Morillon with time to spare. Midday so officially afternoon and enough time to sink a La Chouffe beer in the name of Dutch courage.

It turns out our instructor is Franck who we had at our previous lesson. At good thing surely? Yes, except that we are nervous he will not be impressed with our progress in the past month.

No fear, the ever cool and hairy nostriled Frenchman greets us warmly and eases us past the first hurdle of the chairlift with great ease. The particular chair lift takes us some 800 feet to the summit of Morillon. Spectacular views in the almost piercing sunlight make the trip worthwhile.

At the summit lies the run we have heard so much about, a green run that stretches some 5km, (mostly) gently through snow covered terrain, trees dusted, sunlight glinting through the gaps...sadly we were far too busy concentrating on our parallel turns which I am pleased to say we have somewhat mastered. Nearly. Favorite moments of the journey down marvel (the name of the run) are when we all stop and Franck makes us observe a ten second silence to observe the absolute silence on the mountain, the snow absorbing all sounds. It really is serene. A nice moment. Other memorable points were my spectacular fall; ski's too close together on my parallel turn, touched and propelled me clean out of the ski's. Actually it felt quite exhilarating. Not that I plan to do it all the time.

Franck took us briefly off piste through some trees which resulted in Natasha's fall, ski pole buried deep in the snow. She took it well.

We ran Marvel twice and the second time felt good, this was what it was all about surely! Two hours down we assured Franck that after a food and drink break we'd be back on it for one more run. But a beer, hot dog and sit down plus extensive post-lunch cues at the lift saw off that notion. We descended exhausted but proud and exhilarated. A night in, some home made tabbouleh, even a brief workout was managed before we collapsed. Day 60 would see a new group of guests and lead on to busy half-terms week, but for now we hold onto a good day, the likes of which we hope to have more of as the season eases off.

Day 53

Ten tumultuous days since my last post. With so much and so little happening at once, time is everything and nothing in equal measure in this job.

When your busy preparing cakes and mains in the morning, furiously cleaning rooms watching the clock to get out of the chalet and enjoy a portion of the afternoon time seems so important and seems to go at double speed. Yet those precious few hours off seem to melt away like the snow under the warm striking sun on the clearest day. Not been enough of those clear days this last week, too much of the English grey skies.

Time has been the theme with our weekend guests who arrived for a 50th birthday celebration, such a milestone in life as it is. 

Prior to their arrival we had enjoyed a night almost as guests in the chalet with no one booked in and the owners away in Italy skiing with friends.

Champagne, jacuzzi, sauna, 2 course meal a la moi, sky tv...we could almost imagine the luxury of it after a hard days skiing. Pretty nice to feel what it's all about.

We were broken gently into new arrivals as first through the door were cool, sophisticated and appreciative French couple from Paris Anne and Thierry. Cooking for them was a joy, they loved our Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Lemon Posset, finished dinner early and were easy to talk to. If serving people like this was all that was required we would be happy every day.

The peace was broken by eight 50 something's, who for the whole weekend behaved like a bunch of 18 year olds. The noise! The volume at the dinner table, the lewd and rude conversations took us quite aback. The two French couples, including Thierry and Anne having understandably and wisely decided not to dine with them after the first night. Saturday was the big 50th shindig and with a special menu planned, Debbie the masseuse/hearty home cook came to help us prep and although we learnt some new recipes, the result was that we spent 14 hours working, 6 of those with extremely loud voices ringing in our ears. 

This was our first real experience of a rich elite, a class with seemingly little class to speak of and it made me prouder than ever to have been brought up the way I have, and more respectful still of my parents. 

Fortunately after 4 of the more garish of the group departed and only 4 remained they mellowed and began to act like the more sophisticated guests we had envisaged. It's hard to engage with CEO's of huge corporations and their wives but they were consistently impressed with our food and we managed to engage with them a little.

The different world they come from and their successes has made it a ponderous time and as we approach the half way point of our first season, we have been looking towards our own future. It looks bright.

Short term, we are getting another ski lesson (we are progressing slowly and finding it hard to motivate ourselves to push on to the next level) Then our next job, we have secured a job via a twenty telephone conversation in part thanks to our experience here and perhaps in greater part to my brother Sam who currently works for our future employer. And yet further ahead we are looking to expand our spiritual and physical horizons and head east for a short time and experience working together in a different way, in a Himalayan Forest Project. Life has a lot to squeeze in before we turn 50...