Well, it's official..we've finally lost touch with reality. We forgot that today was Sunday!
After a very late start to the morning, as a result of another night socialising with those party animals..Rick, Gavin & Welsh Sue, and Dave & Irish Sue, we had decided to head down the hill to Sallanches for a spot of shopping. It was grey and dreary when we awoke and the weather report predicted the arrival of a storm front with heavy snow by mid afternoon. We thought we'd better get going!!
In addition to Au Vieux Campeur (Graeme's favourite shop) there is also another a good outdoor outlet in Sallanches. Called "Quechua" the store mainly specialises in clothing. We had heard from Welsh Sue that they were having a sale. Maybe..just maybe...if there was a sale we could actually afford to buy something?
Unfortunately, we forgot that aside from ski resort areas, France pretty much closes down on a Sunday. So our drive was really for nothing. Quechua was closed, along with pretty much every other shop in Sallanches (even Carrefours!!). Although we did discover a neat "drive-in Boulangerie" on the way home. We had passed this converted fuel station several times on previous visits to Sallanches. There has always been a good number of cars parked outside, so we thought that it might be worth a try. The bread, and according to Graeme, the "pain au chocolat" were delicious, and about 25% cheaper than what we pay for the same thing here in Araches! The french obviously price according to altitude!!
2/ Pepi on her ice skating rink!!
Arriving back to Le Refuge for lunch we were excited to see the snow pleting down around us. Our delight was shortlived however! The snow turned to heavy rain and kept up all through the afternoon. Graeme was beside himself. Predicting an early end to the ski season he worked himself into a right frenzy.
Despite the rain, the temperature was still hovering around zero and our driveway and the local roads transformed to treacherous ice-skating rinks. Very disconcerting.
We were saved from total depression by an outing to visit Irish Dave & Sue, who had kindly invited us to dinner at their cute little chalet. Check it out at www.alpexperience.com They cooked us a delicious dinner. Prawn cakes on salad, a mild thai curry and lemon delicious pudding. Scrumptious!
The conversation flowed and flowed. Dave & Sue can hold a good cracking convesation. Somehow we got talking about TV programs and we ended up watching the latest episodes of "24" and then a British reality program called "Come Dine with Me". The idea of the show is to get 5 people who have never met each other to cook each other a dinner party. After each meal and privately in front of the cameras, each contestant then scores the meal out of 10. The winner gets $1,000 GBP - whoopee!!!??
Of course, all the participants are suitably odd. In the series we watched, there was a very attractive young Scottish mother who had a bit of drinking problem, a born again Christian African- American woman from Texas, a very wealthy landed gentleman wine critic who was obsessed with all things Tuscan, a Felicity Kendall look-a-like retiree who also enjoyed a "tipple" and a pasty looking "20-something" scottish cocktail waiter with a chip on his shoulder. All I can say is that it made morbidly good viewing. The alcoholic yummy mummy and the cocktail whipper snapper fell out, the born again christian nearly set her kitchen on fire and the wine critic bored everyone rigid with endless Tuscan tales. Felicity Kendall won.
As soon as we got home in the early hours of the morning we sent Dave & Sue an email. 10/10 we declared!! The pressure is now on!! We will no doubt be required to return the favour.
Speaking of getting home - what a challenge! While Pepi handled the slushy / icy main roads well, it was all too much for her on our side street, when Graeme gently applied the brakes in preparation for turning into our drive. Pepi hit sheet ice and continued to sail gracefully down the hill past our driveway. Hmmm what to do next? We managed to pull off the lane (not that there was any traffic) and slipped on the chains. Not a fun thing to do at 1am in freezing rain! I held the torch and gave appropriate moral support. But with chains on, we were now in business! Pepi crunched her way back up the ice and into our skating park driveway.
Parking safely in our driveway, we were mystified by the presence of an unknown vehicle. We thought that it might have been Rick & Liz's old car or Olivier's (our french neighbour). But no, it was not there's. It was still there mid morning and vanished just before lunch. We didn't catch the owner, and all we can assume is that they hit the same patch of ice and decided to park their car in our driveway and walk home? The mystery remains.
We cross our fingers and toes for snow tomorrow as predicted!
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