Let the Packing Begin!

Hmmm, time to start the dreaded task of packing. It is amazing how much "bidule", "truc" and "machin" (our 3 favourite french words for STUFF), we have managed to accumulate over the last 5 months. The miserly economy class baggage limit was foremost in our minds today as we began the daunting task of clearing Le Refuge of our detritus.

After discovering that it would be cheaper to pay Marie to personally fly to NZ with our skis, we have decided to rely on the old fashioned solution. La Poste!! Still frightfully expensive, especially if you do the conversion to NZ $. Nevertheless a check of the Lufthansa website revealed that excess baggage was charged at E30/kg...making La Poste seem positively reasonable.

A typical morning of hilarity ensued at our local post office as we endeavoured to work out the most cost effective and secure solution to our postal problem. Our charming madam La Poste was wonderfully helpful, but as always our "..orrendous francais" presented the usual confusions.

Eventually, everyone queuing in the post office helped us with translation as we searched for the right box, mailing option and insurance decision. It will never cease to amaze us how often the wrongly maligned french have come to our assistance when we are making a huge botch of things. Contrary to the popular opinion, we have consistently found our french locals to be wonderfully patient and helpful. Everyone from the bank manager to the fromagereuse, the apothecary to the publican has been very kind and welcoming to us. We have been humbled by the amount of help we have received over the last 5 months. It will certainly give us pause for thought when we return to NZ and hear someone struggling to find their feet in our little town.

This evening we have been treated to a delicious "slap up" meal in Chamonix with the usual anglo suspects. Part farewell for us and Dave & Sue who leave Les Carroz for a new chalet in Les Gets, and part celebration to mark the end of the winter season, we enjoyed a delicious meal at the golf house restaurant in Chamonix. The food was totally delicious and for France (fairly reasonably priced). Joining us were R&L, welsh G&S, irish D&S and also english friends of R&L - Tania and Brian. Tania is a physio and Brian is a builder working with Rick in the summer. Keen ski tourers, it's a shame we didn't meet up with them at the beginning of the season rather than right at the end. But that's been the way of things as the reality of our imminent departure is really starting to sink in.

A Rendezvous with Daniel at Les Contamines

1/ Graeme & Daniel

We met Daniel at Les Contamines in early February. He was a lovely man who was trying to learn to telemark. Since meeting Daniel, he has called us a couple of times to invite us to stay at his house near Annecy. Unfortunately, every time he rang us we were about to head off somewhere, first to Slovakia and then Livigno. To be fair we were also a bit reluctant to go off and stay with a bloke we had only met for a couple of hours and could hardly communicate with.

But we decided to trust our instincts and meet up again with Daniel. The easiest place for us both seemed to be back at Les Contamines, the resort where we had first met. Daniel knows the resort well and we still have free tickets there.

2/ The Lunch Gathering

Our meeting with Daniel is remarkable in that he really does not speak English and we really don't speak French. As you can imagine our whole day was full of hilarious miscommunications and widespread reliance on Franglish.

Even more challenging, the idea behind the day was for Graeme to give Daniel some telemark lessons! We'd double checked with Liz some key phrases we could use - "flechez les jambs" , "poid egal" and "regardez on ba la montagne"!

It was so hot today and the snow turned very quickly. Our best skiing was done mid morning before "la neige devenir comme souppe!" Along the way, we learnt quite a bit about Daniel. We knew that he was separated and that he has 3 sons, David, Jeremy and Timothy, who are all grown now. He also has a little grand-daughter.

Graeme can't believe how so many people feel the need to "unburden themselves" to me. In the past, without any prompting on my part, Te Wanaka guests would often reveal the most random "dark secrets" to me. I have no idea why? I've checked my forehead to confirm there's no tatoo saying " Tell me all!" or "I am your confidante". But suffice to say, Daniel too, felt the need to share his dark secret with me today while riding the chairlift. There was nothing lost in translation, but the wonderful thing is that after a hard 3 years, he now has a second chance at life and is revelling in the opportunity to re-establish his relationship with his 3 sons.

3/ The cadeaux! Daniel presented us with a pen and little key ring.

By lunch-time both Daniel and I were pleading with Graeme - "On n'a plus les jambs!" (We have no more legs left!). Kindly Graeme stopped the lessons and we enjoyed a healthy lunch of pomme frittes in the sunshine. [The budget is starting to get pretty tight!!] Over lunch, Graeme pulled out his map of the area and were were able to establish exactly where Daniel lived and where he worked. He lives in a little village called Le Villard in Parc National Reg. du Massif des Bauges. And he works as a remontee mechanic at a tiny resort called Margeriaz.

Lunch was a long one. We all seemed to have lost enthusiasm for tackling the "souppe" again. But we wanted to get some photos and film footage of Daniel skiing, so we managed to have a couple more runs before we called it a day.

It is always surprising how you can still communicate when you have a common interest. We had a really fun day with Daniel and we are pleased he persisted with us. We wish him well for the future and hope that we can keep in contact with him.

4/ Not the best shot of Daniel telemarking. He did much better avant midi! But to be fair! He was skiing in "souppe" and like me - "Il n'a plus les jambes!!"

The Serious Smell of Summer!

1/ A Spring Lunch on the Deck

Ever since we arrived back in Araches, the weather has been sunny and balmy. The long hot summer days don't seem far away as we watch the last snow drifts melt away and the grass literally jump from the ground. Another lazy day today, getting through some of those little jobs we have neglected in the social whirl of the last two months!

We joined Marie, Louie, Diane and her friend Louise for lunch on the deck in the sunshine. Marie's youngest, Cami is here too, but she was visiting with friends today. After lunch, Marie and I settled into the deck chairs and it was extremely difficult to get motivated again as we soaked up the relaxing warmth of the sun.

2/ The "secret french custom" - eating fruit!

Apparantly there has been some misinformation given in my blog. Contrary to my earlier comments, after observing a sample of one - the Teste Family luncheon today, the french do eat fruit and vegetables. But I still stand by my original assertion...it's a private thing. You won't see any flagrant fruit or legume munching at restaurants or cafes.

After lunch, Marie was kind enough to ring UPS for us and check on the price of sending our ski bag to NZ. A positive bargain ...only E1700 Geneva to Queenstown. Marie was laughing after she hung up the phone. "It's a joke!" she said. "It would be cheaper for you to buy a seat on a normal flight for your ski bag!"

So it looks like our skis will be coming with us, after all. Plan B is to mail home all the other stuff we won't need. What a hassle. But on a brighter note, we heard from Drive Away Australia this morning and we don't need to have our car serviced! Thank goodness. Trying to explain in french to our local Peugeot dealer that we want an "unscheduled scheduled service" was too traumatic to contemplate....for everyone involved!

Eventually the sun went behind some clouds and it was time to rouse ourselves from the comfort of the deckchairs. Our welsh friends Gavin & Sue have gone back to Cardiff for a flying visit to their family. But they've left their wee doggy "Winston" with Rick and Liz. Winston is a delightful border collie. He loves a walk and so we thought we'd help R&L and share that responsibility. Winston is still very definitely a "boy" so we were a little shy about letting him off the lead lest he chase the girls or pick fights with other boys. We would hate to have to explain Winston's disappearance or injuries to his parents.

To end the day, we were back at Yoga with Antoinette after a 2 week absence during Dana's visit (we didn't have the energy) and our trip to Livigno last week. It's hard to tell, but we actually think she was pleased to see us. We're not sure why. We are the worst students in the class by far. And we have no idea what happens in the last third of each session which is dedicated to breathing. This evening she gave us a Chakra map...all in French. She handed it over to us very reverently. It's obviously important. Unfortunately, we have no idea what we do with it, but we'll have a go at translating it this week in the hope that we can at least try to make an intelligent comment next week. [That'll be interesting!].

Finally just before we were leaving Antoinette went to her car and asked if we wanted some leafy herb that she had been growing. Thrusting a great big bag of green leaves at us, Antoinette explained that it was a good substitute for garlic and onions. We couldn't catch what she called it, but graciously thanked her for the gift. I guess we'll have to try it in our salads and hope that there's no hallucinogenic reaction.

Aaah there's never a dull moment for the Oxleys in Araches!!

Car, Excess Baggage & Summer Continues

1/ Araches farm house and lane

Well France Meteo has obviously got the forecast wrong. No rain today. 20C and not a cloud in the sky. No more procrastination! Much to the relief of our aching joints there's no skiing planned today. We are off to do the food shopping in Cluses and undertake the tricky french task of booking Pepi in for his 10,000 scheduled service. We also have to turn our minds to shipping all our excess luggage back to NZ - groan!

2/ Farmhouse #2

Catching up with Marie this morning, she has given us a fright. She expects that the scheduled service will be about E300. A little naively, we really hadn't given the cost much thought. We are now kicking ourselves that we didn't hand back the car before the service was due and make other transport arrangements. Rick had offered to loan us one of his cars on many occasions. We're feeling a little foolish now.

Rehearsing our french all the way to Cluses "Je voudrais reserve la revision dix mille kilometre pour notre voiture" . The young man at the service counter spoke little English and he shook his head explaining something negative in rapid-fire french. The major flaw with our french is that we also rehearse an expected reply and our subsequent interactions. But when we are thwarted from the beginning with a totally unexpected answer we're in trouble. We were in trouble now.

We pulled out all our bits of paper, the Carte Grise (Registration Papers), our lease with Peugot, contract with Drive Away Australia, the car manual, our passports....his desk was now strewn with important official looking documents. This was sure to impress the young lad that we new what we were about. But no, he was still shaking his head. This was not going at all well.

After 15 minutes of frustrated conversation from our young lad and totally confused responses on our part, we finally figured out that he couldn't do a 10,000km service because the first service for our model wasn't until 20,000km. Aaahaa....."maintenant, nous comprendon!" An unexpected result but hopefully a good one. We still had a problem because our contract with Peugeot/ Drive Away Australia clearly required a 10,000km service. But this was hardly the nice young man's problem. Thanking him profusely and leaving him with a bemused expression on his face and a good story for his morning tea break, we retreated gracefully taking all our bits of paper with us.

Back at Le Refuge after our shopping trip, we have contacted Drive Away Australia, (who fortunately for us, are fluent in English) to ask for a clarification of the conflicting contract terms. Fingers crossed we will be spared E300! If not, we will get them to do battle with our Peugeot Service office. They can try and explain to our young man in Cluses how to do a unscheduled scheduled service!

Next hurdle....the luggage. We really would prefer to travel without our skis if at all possible. A few weeks ago, we had contacted AirNZ about unaccompanied baggage and also been to Geneva Airport to see the airfreight people there. But the skis could only be shipped to Christchurch and we'd have to organise a customs clearance ourselves. Major hassle.

Scouring the internet well into the evening, we tried all the usual suspects DHL, UPS, FedEx only to find that when we entered the dimensions & weight of our ski package the quote was over E2,000. Surely this was a mistake. I know that NZ is close to the South Pole, but not that close!! No nearer to a solution, we have decided to enlist Marie's help and see if she would be kind enough to contact a number of our leads and explain our requirements in French.

Breaking our frustrating shipping search we joined Rick and Liz for an early dinner of Fajitas and an Italian debrief of our time in Livigno. I think we have inspired them to go to La Skieda next year.

They are also going to Italy in June. Renting a gorgeous house in Umbria, they will be joined by some UK friends for a cycling training camp. Both Rick and Liz are involved in cycling events over the summer. Riding from Paris to Geneva, Tour de France or some such ridiculous length of ride!

What is it with our age group? Is it a realisation of our impending mortality? Mid-life crises? What? All the news we hear from home is about friends joining running clubs, cycling around or swimming across lakes and... god forbid running marathons. Makes Graeme and I want to lie down and have a nice cup of tea. But we can't escape even here in France the land of sensible things like red wine and cheese fondue....Rick & Liz have also caught the biking bug.

Village Mysteries & the Boulangerie Breakthrough

The sign at the top of the street!

For some time there has been heated debate in our household about the correct spelling and pronounciation of our street name. Even Liz, who has lived here for years pronounces it differently from Antoinette our Yoga Sadist (oops, I meant to say Instructress!!). We thought this very strange and then we found the cause of the problem. The street signs at the top and bottom of our Route Frev(r)uard are spelled differently. Both signs are rusty and well worn. They've been there a while!? Aaah you just gotta love those Frenchies!!

First Village Mystery solved!!

And..at the bottom

The Second Village Mystery

Well this one is a bit tricky. And there's no photos to accompany this part of the blog today. It begins with a confession of "my unkind and unjust" thoughts towards my local Boulangerie, or more specifically the attractive young lady behind the counter.

My misplaced judgement began in December, I think. Given my annoying propensity for rising early, I am inevitably the one who walks down to the village to buy the bread for the day. While we've been trying many different kinds of bread, we particularly like "un boule". It's especially good for making sandwiches with a nice crunchy crust.

On this particular morning, there was only one boule displayed in the window. Using my best french with a nice smile, "bonjour" and plenty of "svp", I asked for the lonely boule! The very attractive lady suddenly leapt to whisk the offending pain (bread) from view. She shook her head and said I couldn't have it because it was "reserve". "Ok, fair enough!" I thought and chose a different bread.

But when the same thing happened the next morning and on and off for the next couple of weeks, I started to get a bit of a complex? One morning there were 2 boules in residence, but one was a little more burnt around the edges than the other. So when the cute little lady reached to give me the burnt one, I risked saying: "Non madam, ce la, svp " pointing to the less burnt boule. And the answer..... "Je desole, mai reserve". That did it! I was thoroughly put out! For the last month I have been surly and sneery with my boulangeraise. Graeme kept telling me that she was always totally delightful when he went for the bread in the morning! (On the 3 ocassions he has made a trip in the morning!)

But today, Graeme and I visited the Boulangerie together around midday, after our french lessons with Liz. I looked like a proper student with French books tucked under my arm. It was not busy and we managed to strike up a little bit of conversation with her. It appears that that magic phrase "Je vien de la Nouvelle Zelande" has worked again! The transformation in her demeanour was nothing short of amazing. We also noticed that there were at least 6 boules in the window, so we have guessed that maybe I am too early in the morning for the fresh ones?! Graeme reckons that she doesn't want to sell me a boule if it isn't fresh. This sounds like a much nicer and fairer assumption. I am looking forward to my next visit with the pretty lady! An exchange of names is next on the list!!

Les Contamines & the Yoga Continues...

"Look at that!!" But wait...there's more! A photo of Graeme pointing to a tenth of the total Les Contamines ski area.

Yum, Yum....Les Contamines. What a deliciously divine ski area! And we didn't even experience her in the best conditions. A windy and cloudy afternoon, followed a warm and sunny morning. As we mentioned yesterday, the weather is finally starting to change and while the Meteo is predicting snow, the temperatures have been increasing steadily every day. Fingers crossed, we'll get some of the snow that is currently crippling Britain.

Situated at the end of a valley running alongside the western flank of Mont Blanc, Les Contamines has amazing fall line, huge areas of ungroomed and, what looks like, endless touring!! Hmmm...our kinda hill! Definitely a place that we'll be coming back to!

2/A few Racer Kids too! This is an 8 year old doing 80kmph!!

3/ A view of the village from the access gondola

Les Contamines ("LC") also wins the award for the weirdest gondolas we've struck so far in Europe. They must have got their lift system from the Poma sale catalogue, either that, or LC was an experimental installation by Poma. Their gondola's are double sided and designed to take 6 midgets or 4 normal sized humans, or 2 rugby players. (Actually, strike that. The entrances are too narrow for a front row'er even if they squeezed in sideways!!). The shell is made of fibreglass and both the rear and front doors open & close on their own random timetable. An adventure in themselves, I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to use these gondolas in a busy period when everyone is pushing and shoving. Maybe that's why they don't fit rugby players?

4/ "The experimental Gondolas at LC!!"

And finally our day ended with a chance meeting with a lovely frenchman, Daniel, who was trying to learn to telemark. As the clouds were rolling in and the visibility drove us further down the mountain, Daniel came over to say hello to us when we stopped half way down the run. It was day 2 on telemarks for Daniel and he was obviously looking for some pointers. "Voulez -vous venir avec nous?", I asked. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I hoped he understood that I meant we'd be happy to help him, rather than any other scary interpretation!

What ensued was an hilarious telemark lesson conducted in "franglish" as Daniel spoke no English and we no French. But somehow he got the drift and he followed Graeme down the slope 3 or 4 times. At least by the end of the afternoon, he had the downhill ski forward and his turns were looking less alpine and more "telemarky".

Daniel shouted us to a coffee afterwards and we learned that he was 55 and a strong alpine skier. He had spent all his life in the mountains, skiing and climbing and he now works as a Lift Engineer at a ski resort near Annecy. Didn't quite catch on where it was exactly. But we did get that he was separated from his wife, with 3 sons (30, 26 & 22). He skis all the year on the high glaciers at Tignes & Val d'Isere. He wanted to learn to telemark to keep his interest in skiing alive. (Some may think that telemarking has just the opposite affect! They are not called "Misery Sticks" for nothing!!).

A delightful man, we hope that we'll catch up with Daniel again when we return to the little gem that is Les Contamines!!

The Answer to Life, the Universe & Everything....and the "Needle in a Haystack"!!

"Tout Baigne! Andy, Graeme, et une baguette"

For all Douglas Adams fans (author of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ("HHGG"), you will understand when I say, that I know the Answer to Life, the Universe & Everything! I've reached that magic number - "42"!! Not sure what's so special about the number "42" but apparantly Deep Thought (the supercomputer in HHGG) took 7.5 million years to come up with the answer. Personally, I've only done 42 years thinking on the matter and my answer to most deep and meaningful questions is - go skiing!

It was a leisurely start to the day today. Opening pressies in bed and thanks to Sue & Gavin, who loaned us their skype camera/microphone we enjoyed a successful morning speaking to all our friends and family in OZ & NZ.

It was mid-morning before we made it out onto the slopes. Armed with our standard lunch fare of baguette, cheese and sausage we headed out. The snow is still in remarkably good shape given that it hasn't snowed for some time and the temperatures are steadily increasing. We keep thinking that the snow will turn icy as it does in Australia and NZ, but no, - still good!!

Finding a nice sunny picnic spot on the hill, we settled into our delicious french fare. While eating, were were entertained by a gaggle of boffin snowboarders. We even caught some of their hilarious capers on film.

Today was auspicious not only because of the number "42" but because we found a lost treasure! A week ago, I took quite a spectacular crash and slide on one of our favourite off-piste runs. For some reason, SOMEONE had forgotten to do up the top pocket of my back pack. We hadn't realised this, until a Mars Bar, that was supposed to be safely in my pack, shot past me as I slid down the slope on my face. Collecting the detritus I had left scattered about the slope, we failed to notice that I had also lost Graeme's "Binding Buddy" out of the same pocket. A Binding Buddy is a very useful tool like an Allen Key that you use to adjust your bindings. Graeme was suitably distraught about its loss.

But today, one week later, and after probably 100's of people had skied this slope something made me go back and just have a quick look for the missing Binding Buddy. Graeme thought that it was a waste of time. The slope is large and I wasn't exactly sure where I had crashed. The rather large hole from the high speed head plant had disappeared! "Needle in a haystack, Andy!" said Graeme. But I just had that positive feeling that I would find something....so I followed my hunch. Sure enough... about half way across the slope I came upon a Mars Bar. Obviously another one of our chocolate bars had made a desperate break for freedom. So I scratched around in the nearby snow and "low & behold" the Binding Buddy was found! What are the chances?? Graeme was ecstatic!

"Eureka! The Mars Bar and...the Binding Buddy"

And to top off an otherwise perfectly lucky and special day, Graeme had secretly organised a dinner at a local restaurant with Liz & Rick and Gavin and Sue.

Called the Gron, the restaurant specialises in meat dishes. Actually it's just a big BBQ place where you select your meat and it is cooked on an open fire in front of you. The owner is quite eccentric. He used to run the only nightclub in Les Carroz for about 20 years. And so the music for dining is comprised of 80's classics like B52's Private Idaho & Nina 99 Luft Balloons. He also speaks Franglish (a mixture of French and English) which no-one, not even the Rick & Liz could decipher. (It has since occurred to me, that this is what I must sound like when I attempt the language? ) He reminded us very strongly of another equally eccentric restauranteur we know who nails his tables to the floor! The food was almost as good too!!

3/ & 4/ Cooking our dinner over the BBQ. Our night out with the gang.

Snow Snakes (aka Snow Marmots) Are Alive & Well!!

1/ Proof! The lair of the "mythical european snow marmot!!

I've got the proof!! "Snow Snakes" or "Snow Marmots" as they are referred to in Europe are alive and well! These supposedly mythical creatures are crafty. You can be skiing along, totally relaxed, humming a tune, when all of a sudden a snow marmot will sneak out of their burrow and trip you up. They operate at light speed and their movements cannot be detected by the human eye. The first we know about their attack is when we have unexpectedly landed on our faces in the snow, skis are off and there is a general garage sale of your poles, goggles and other equipment strewn all over the slope.

But today, while ski touring around our hill, I discovered a burrow right in the middle of the piste! I wasn't able to capture the fabled critter on film...but I'm hot on the trail now.

2/ The "Hideaway" Les Tranchets

Today I took myself off for a bit of ski tour in and around our resort. Unfortunately, young Graeme overdid things a bit on the skiing front yesterday and I ordered him back to bed this morning.

Armed with our local topo map I headed up the hill. It wasn't long until a lovely old man called Michel caught me up. He didn't speak English so I had to try and converse with him in French and keep up his cracking pace. Part moutain-goat, Michel has obviously been skinning up the slopes of Les Carroz for many a year.

But this was too good an opportunity to pass up. A friendly Frenchie!! And if I could just keep up with him ...I had another victim! While I can't even begin to imagine how awful I must have sounded, I was able to learn that he has had a holiday house in Les Carroz since the 70's, he has a daughter and a son in their 30's and 5 toddler grandchildren. He does this ski touring circuit most mornings while his wife is still sleeping. He laughed when I told him that "mon mari" was asleep too!!

He asked me about NZ. He didn't seem to be entirely sure where it was. He asked if it was part of Australia? Mon dieu!! Jamais!! I explained that "NZ c'est pres de Australia, mais deux heure le vol de la Nouvelle Zealande". He wanted to know if there was snow in NZ and I was able to tell him about Mt Cook and our snow conditions. Actually, I am becoming quite proficient at describing snow conditions! I suspect that Michel might have understood this part of our conversation the best.

I explained that I was going to try and get over to Morillon ( the neighbouring resort). He suggested that on the way, I visit a little known restaurant at Les Tranchets. The restaurant is tucked away in the forest, away from the piste. Only walkers and snow-shoers go there. I thought this was a fine idea and thanked him profusely as we parted company about half way up to the summit.

2/ The view from the secret restaurant at Les Tranchets

The weather was sunny and still and I was thoroughly enjoying my ski tour. Without too much trouble I found the secret restaurant. It is only open on the weekends, but I have made a note to take Graeme back there some time.

Continuing down through the forest past the restaurant, the skiing took a tricky turn. The walking track was narrow and icy. Too narrow for me to turn, my thighs were burning from the racing snow plough position I had to adopt to keep my downhill speed under control. The walkers and snow-shoers who were sharing what really is their track, were remarkably understanding as I hurtled past them. I took to making a "yodelling alarm call" as I came to a blind corner lest I mowed down small children or hospitalised an innocent elderly couple!

Finally the track flattened and headed upwards again. I came across a deserted cow barn and stopped in the sun for a light lunch of bread, cheese and sausage. Then following the same contour I arrived back on a beginners run called Le Marvel in the Morillon resort. Terrific, I thought! An easy walk homeward! Alas, as I soon discovered, skinning up a beginner's run is not a good idea. Even though I kept to the extreme edge of the piste, wobbly legged beginners would head straight for me, turning away at the very last possible moment. Runaway skis (without their owners) regularly rained down the slope and beginner snow boarders kept popping out of the forest around me. After 200m I was a nervous wreck and consulted my map for a less terrifying way back to Les Carroz.

While much harder going, I made it safely back through the forest and enjoyed a quick ski back through the weekend crowds to the car. I saw so many serious near misses on the piste today that I am beginning to think that skiing on the weekend is too crowded and dangerous. Maybe a first run in the morning will be OK, but after that, I'm going to put the skins on and head off into the forest!! Certainly, I think that this will be the solution for the next couple of months.

Les Carroz's Santa Unmasked!!!

Day 1 on the Teles for Andy.

Day One for Andy on the Telemark skis today. It was quite surprising to us how few people in the french Alps telemark. Proportionally, there would definitely be more teleskiers in NZ. So we are very lucky that the little ski hire shop in our village is owned and run by a telemark enthusiast named Bertrand. He is a lovely young fellow, who runs the ski rental shop in the winter and a downhill mountain biking operation in the summer. We haven't seen him on the slopes yet, but we suspect he will be no slouch!!

Back to the story of my Misery Sticks (aka known as telemark skis)...it was a long long day for me. De l'apres midi, "Je n'ai plus des jambes!" I thought that this was a very clever expresssion meaning literally "I have no more legs" - "I am exhusted". I had found this expression in the Lonely Planet phrasebook and thought that I'd try it out on Bertrand when I returned the skis to him at the end of the day! Malheureusement (Unfortunately), what I actually said to Bertrand was "Je n'nai plus des jambons" This translates to "I have no more hams!! " He fell about laughing! Aaaah... this confounded language!

What the heck! Our visit to Bertrand's shop couldn't get any more embarrassing so I decided to try on some of his ski hats for size. I found the perfect one!! Belle... n'est-ce pas?

2/ Stylish!

And finally, today we think we have "unmasked" the Les Carroz Santa. Taking this kind of photo is always fraught. I was forbidden to go up and ask this poor man whether he was the Les Carroz Santa! So I had to pretend that I was taking a photo of Graeme instead.

3/ Ignore Graeme...check out Santa in the background!!