a fortnight in february - part 1

Two weeks in the Pyrenees, or 15 days as the French say…

Day 1: Having packed the car with two weeks of food, booze, bedding, clothing and…er… booze for, at various times, ten of us, we had the luck to arrive at the Hydeaway during a short window of opportunity unhindered by snow. Unloading the car seemed to trigger a further snowfall that was to last unabated for the next few days.

Day 2: Skiing was out for us fair weather skiers, so we undertook a racquet walk up the hill behind us with the hounds. The combination of fresh snow on top of thick icy snow made going uphill somewhat tricky (see photos) and coming down only possible by bum.

Running up

Struggling up

Giving up

Humans sliding down steep slopes seems strangely attractive to Sky. She clearly thought I should continue careering down the mountain, thus helped me along by constantly charging me from behind like some crazed land dolphin.

Pricking up

Fuzzing up

They said it couldn’t be done; finding a good curry in France (apart from chez-nous of course). Spending the evening at Mike & Kim’s allowed Mike to prove his culinary abilities as well has his proficiency at kicking a man when he’s down by hammering me at both pool and darts.

Day 3: Picking Lisa and Christian up from the airport was an adventure in itself, with heavy snow en route. On our return, we took the dogs into the village so that Lisa and Christian could take out their frustrations upon each other.

With intent

First Strike

Revenge

What snow?

Waiting at heal

Love in the snow

Furry Lisa

That evening, we decided to test our fortunes by driving way up to le Mourtis on an uncleared road whilst the snow still ‘hammered’ down. This, to celebrate our 18th anniversary.

We had previously discovered that a four-wheel drive on snow, was equivalent to a no-wheel drive when it comes to braking downhill. Chains, we also discovered, were only any use if you could get the bloody things on… even then, after getting one chain on, the sodding thing disappeared en route.

This time we were well prepared with winter tyres (amazing difference, it’s almost like driving a…er…car) and made it without spill through thick snow. The return trip (after a generous oiling with 'eau de vie’) a couple of hours later was slightly trickier, being downhill. One interesting discovery on the way down was that when an avalanche hits, everyone in the car ducks! “Very useful” I thought whilst speeding off unscathed.

Next up, some skiing…

Posted with Blogsy

If you go down to the woods today

There are more dangerous things in the Pyrénées than bears these days…

More dangerous than bears

I was warned that going to the Pyrénées this weekend would bring with it some risks such as road blocks and avalanches, but no one warned me I’d meet a stunning masked lady in the woods… She sure gave me a big surprise!

For the record, and it is a record, the depth of snow here has surpassed anything before seen by living man (although a few dead ones might disagree). It has passed the two meter depth at the bottom of the slopes for the first time since records began. (Do you remember ‘Telstar’ by the Tornados?)

The snow covering the roof has slowly slid into interesting shapes, the barbecue has all but disappeared under a snow dune, Peter’s restaurant has gone underground, walking in the snow has introduced me to muscles previously unheard of, and the dogs have taken to tunnelling.

As for skiing, well, perfect snow conditions with imperfect skiers. Annick and Mike both lost skis whilst on the ski lift. And I didn’t think disabled access would be that easy…

Nice views though…

 

 

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1981

These photos were taken as slides whilst on holiday in the States with my ex, then newly married. I took extended leave from work as an assistant at Packer & Ryland’s, with an offer to return to work as a partner. Sounded great, but was actually the start of a gradual slide into financial woes.I’ve scanned the pictures from the original slides. I’ve removed some of the spots, hairs and smudges, but lost the will to live after a while. There were a thousand slides originally, so I have thinned them down a bit.I guess this post is only of interest to me, but I’ll email it to a couple of family so that they can see what a cool dude I was in those days.[AFG_gallery id=‘40’]