Left Graeme at home to do the ironing this morning! Seriously! He said he wasn't feeling well enough to ski! He said "he'd do the ironing". Now I am really worried!!
Since I'd packed the car and had on all my ski gear, I thought I'd go skiing for the morning at least. The plan worked a treat and until about 10:30am I had the mountain to myself. And then the crowd descended. I spent a lot of time skiing on the very edge of the piste ready to dive off the side at the slightest hint of danger.
I can't honestly say that my french is improving. Although we are having frequent lessons and trying to absorb as much as possible - it's a slow road! Graeme is quite good at writing and comprehension but he is relunctant to speak. In contrast, I boldy spout forth a constant stream of incomprehensible french and get myself in to no end of trouble!! Graeme is often so embarrassed by me that he subtly moves away or tries to get on a different chairlift to me.
So this morning, determined to make the most of my freedom, I took the opportunity to practice my french with every unsuspecting person with whom I shared a chair. Talking to people on the chairlifts is perfect! I have them CAPTIVE!! They can't escape!! But the French don't seem to be naturally keen to chat with strangers!! And while many of them try to ignore my ramblings, they are stuck with me until the lift ends! However, this morning I found that saying "Je viens de la Nouvelle Zealande" (I come from NZ) was a really effective "ice-breaker". This fact proved to be intriguing enough to get them talking.
But this morning I earned my first French "Bof" . If you are wondering what this is, see the picture below or for more information - click on http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa020901g.htm.
The "Bof" came as a response to my questioning a delightful couple from northern France whether they liked Rugby! It was a shame really, as I had been on fire! I had learned that they lived in the Haute Normandie, that they were staying in Morillon where they had an appartment and that in summer they rode horses (at least I assumed that ....or maybe they grow them for meat?? (ie., eat them?). I'm not sure whether they said monter or manger a cheval). But they don't like Rugby - the man even used the word in a sentence! "BOF, Rugby is not the French Game!! Football is the French game! " And on that unfortunate conversation dampener we alighted the chairlift and I wished them "Bon Ski". To avoid another "Bof" in the future, I figure I will need to ascertain more clearly which French departments (regions) follow rugby before asking that particular question again.
I decided to head home at lunch time as the jostling for position on the chairlift was starting to resemble a rugby scrum. It was so rough that a guy actually fell off the last chair I caught for home. His wife was obviously annoyed at something he said and gave him a shove just before he was about to sit down. It was ugly!! No point practising my french with these people - they were Russian!
I returned home to a sad possum. Graeme is not all himself. To the doctors tomorrow!!
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