Berry Christmas 2006

The verdict on the skiiing

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Here's Sam, Luke, Emma and Simon at the top of La Masse, on yet another blindingly sunny day... as the snow in the background disappears.

As expected, Emma and Sam took to skiing like sensible folk on the piste. Luke took to it like someone with a death wish and no brakes. Confounded by that basic life-preserver of all novice skiers (the 'snow plough' position), he fell over 30 times, including off the side of the piste (twice), on day one. The next day he woke up, having mysteriously mastered parallel skiing in the night. No-one knows how he did this, and he's not telling. By day 3, he joined S & J in the Advanced Group Twos, where our charming but foolhardy 'moniteur' (aptly named Ludo) taught him backwards skiing and 360 degreee turns, whilst waiting for the rest of us to progress down the mountain more sensibly.

Emma demonstrates a suitable position for sun bathing.

No-one broke any bones, but we had to resort to the handily available 'snow pack cure' on several evenings. Here is Luke trying it out on a bashed knee:

The award for best bruise was heavily contested.  The winner was actually Emma, who had brought her snow board all the way from Blighty, so felt duty bound to switch from two planks of wood strapped to her feet, to just the one, on the afternoon of day 2.

A heavy wipe-out from a fellow boarder (like Emma, very nearly in control, but not quite) resulted in a spectacularly colourful buttock - a timely reminder that the Good Lord gave us TWO feet for a reason! After that it was back to skiing for Emma.

Modesty forbids, therefore, a photo of the winning bruise. But here is Luke - in second place with the battle of wounded knee:

Over and out until the 31st

The bad news is that there will now be a pause in postings until we (hopefully) get back to 'Beam Ends' on 31st.

The good news is that there will be a deluge of video. pictures and stories to tell from Les Menuiers and New Zealand - Val and Dave will be at our place . . .

New Year's Projects

It's at this time of year that thoughts turn to the coming year. One of my plans is to map a GPS route from Land's End to John o' Groats on the National Cycle Network and then ride it (or part of it) in 2007.

The National Cycle Network is an amazing resource and it's great if you know where it goes. However, it is often poorly sign-posted which makes it frustrating to use for the casual user. I want to make GPS files available online so that GPS users can download them.

Work has started (see pictures) but it's got quite complicated!

I will be looking for co-riders so watch this space!

Happy Christmas!

Bonne Noelle... We actually had to get up today and have a skiiing lesson!  Pictures to follow!

Luke's new house?

Is this Luke's new living room?

Here is Luke in Norwich, just a stone's throw from the city centre.. in a house that might be his (or his bank's anyway) very shortly....

It's a Victorian two up, one down affair, with a spiral staircase and enough yard to throw a small cat in - or at least store a bicycle anyway. But there is a park just behind the Catherine-Cookson-style cobbled alley to the rear. So at least the council will be mowing the lawn...

Wish you were here!

We are all now here - feeling a bit guilty about the CO2 we've produced to get here :-| Must do something to offset this when we get back . . .

Anyway, this the webcam at Les Menuires. You can see it here: http://www.lesmenuires.com/infos_station/webcam.html Please don't sit looking at this for hours on end as the chances of catching us smiling are pretty slim!

We are hoping for more snow soon! The weather reports are here. Isn't the internet wonderful!

The penny has dropped

I've been a bit slow to wake up to the climate change thing. But I have started to be shocked by the implications. These two pictures were part of what did it for me. One picture was taken in Sept 1979 the other in Sept 2004.

Did you know that if you have £10 to spare, you are much better off buying a low energy light bulb than putting the money in the Bank? Spreadsheet available on request! Please comment below. . .

 

Wot? No snow?

I was surprised to be invited by the British Embassy in Greece to talk about rural development and the Common Agricultural Policy. There were a dozen of us from the UK and we flew out on 1 December and this was the rather alarming view of the alps. Hardly any snow in sight.

This is worrying from a climate change point of view but also, we are supposed to be skiing here at Christmas!

Bezzfest 2006 - can it be the last one!?

The Bezzfest went ahead in early September as usual, with no less than 4 giant marquees around the house as an offering to the Rain Gods. Glastonbury - eat your heart out! They skipped a year, so Bezzfest was voted ‘the’ summer festival experience (well, it was in our house anyway).

Lots of the founder band members of WYJO* - Warwickshire Youth Jazz Orchestra - turned 21 that year, including Emma, so it was their last ever performance, after a gig-packed summer that saw Emma singing all over the place - most memorably from the bucket of a giant (moving) digger, at Kent's Diggerland.

With more acts than usual this year as more of the kids start up their own bands, the famous WYJO still headlined, with three full sessions, to the delight of the crowds, undeterred by damp and windy weather.

Band leader John was in serious danger of making the diva go all wet and weepy with his farewell speech to the band leavers, but Emma stil managed to deliver her last, gutsy, vocal performance of Mack the Knife... in spite of the usual antics from John in the background. Her last quip to the audience on this final appearance, at the pinnacle of her Jazz Career, will go down in the annals of the band:
"Omigod: upstaged by an inflatable toy... story of my life!"

So, that's it then. 

Unless of course someone sweet-talks the diva into another band... Or someone comes up with another a good excuse for a bash.... or there's always the outside chance of a WYJO Alumni Reunion...

* WYJO are on myspace where you can listen to a rendition of Mack the Knife: www.myspace.com/wyjo

Luke: a good sport

Well, yes he is, but more importantly, he's found one. Through years of research, out on the foreign fringes of physical fitness, Luke has been trying out things that most people can’t even spell, let alone understand - Ju-jitsu, Capoeira, Remoska*. He has finally found a sport that brings together all of his interests:

• wearing silly clothes
• running around in circles till exhausted
• War Games (all those hours playing War Hammer with Sam on a table in the loft had an effect!)
• and the mysterious psychology of blokes

Yes, it's Lacrosse, and blokes do play it. Now gaining popularity in the UK, Lacrosse actually stems from an ancient American Indian war game, and not from Mallory Towers and jolly hockey sticks at all. And you have to wear all that stuff - body armour, gloves, and a particularly impressive helmet - because perfectly nice people try to hit you with sticks. Fortunately, the kit is all on loan from the club, paid for by  the  Lottery (so that's where your money's going!)

Based in Norwich, one of the newest teams in the Southern England Men’s league is East Coast (East Coast Baby to their friends). Having started the season as the newbies, at the bottom of the second league, they’ve battled up into the top three, having trounced HM Army at Sandhurst, beaten the favourites Hitchin by just one point, and drawn with the early league leaders, Northampton University. S&J are going to see the next game with Northampton in January...

The only downside (and this is the bloke-ish bit) is that they all have to have nicknames. Luke foolishly didn't have one handy, so was immediately christened ‘Shirley’, on the grounds that someone on the team has to have a girl’s name and Luke is the only one pretty enough to qualify. Unfortunately, this is incontestable: just look at the team photo!

*Correction: a Remoska is a Polish electric frying pan, that he cooks his dinner in….[Ed]