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!
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!!
