Speed Kills

Spending time with John and Suzie is always a good laugh. John’s Irish wit and repartee falters only when he’s asleep, although this is tempered by the fact that sleeping is his favourite pastime. Well, that and bees. Yes, our visitors from the Emerald Isle have something of a penchant for the little buggers buzzers. It has even been known to overcome his urge to tell a joke.

John was here to ski. Despite his enormous…..talents, even he needs some snow to do it on.

Not much of that here.

The end of the previous week did provide a smidgin of the stuff, but most is still spewed out by snow canon.

Putting such minor quibbles to one side, off the three of us went (Susie remained at base-camp), ready to conquer all before us. The ‘Magnificent Three’.

To be fair, John’s ski technique is much like mine. Move slowly but surely from bar to bar. First stop, the 'Louzat’, just next to the top of the ski lift.

Then down to any bar of choice at the bottom. Then up to… well, you get the general idea. In recent years Annick has refined this by starting the day with a hot chocolate and rum. Smart woman.

That was a random picture of me by the way. Relaxing. Proud of my achievements. Pride comes before a fall.

Enter Kim and Mike.

Mike’s idea of skiing is not unlike something diametrically opposite to mine. Whereas I take my time by carefully sliding from one safe haven to another, Mike takes his time using an app on his iPhone. Each time striving to meet a faster target.

Needless to say, my vain attempts to keep up with him ended in disaster. After two falls, well, every photo tells a story…

Thankfully I was only temporarily disabled. My helmet saved me from a much more serious injury, as my first fall saw one ski go in one direction, me in another, and my other ski take off vertically, only to try impaling me through the head. Helmets are good things. I love my helmet. My helmet is my friend.

More importantly, my camera survived, thus allowing me to continue my career as a photoblogger and thus post this one of Sky, my faithful (ish) hound, who stopped eating poo long enough for me to snap:

Thus endeth another adventure. Stay tuned for the next episode where we see Luke & Marta attempt a 'pas de deux’ on the slopes and Lisa & Christian give Sienna, then aged 7 weeks, her first ski lesson. Should be interesting…

A week of wet snow

Winter has yet to arrive in the South of France. Our usual ski-fest has been somewhat thwarted this year. Temperatures of 17C do not lend themselves to the formation of fluffy white stuff.

This fine powdering of snow is all we found upon our arrival in the Pyrénées. At this time of year, a good covering of half a meter or so would be the norm around our little abode. Not this year.

At this point there is usually heard the cry (from certain quarters) of ‘Global Warming’. Well, maybe, but the Pyrénées is not renowned for its snow as is the Alps or maybe the ice-age bound Canada. Here, snow is not guaranteed and we have to make the best of what we get.

Thus along comes Geoff with daughter Jenny and boyfriend Alex. That’s not Geoff’s boyfriend btw. They arrived ready for skiing, so skiing we went.

This is Geoff looking for vague evidence of snow…

and this is Jenny and Alex coming over all romantic…

Only one of the slopes was open, off-piste being on-grass. The sprinkled soil was pretty but not of much use.

Well, off we went, the intrepid adventurers, to show our mastery of the elements. Both Geoff and I did ok for old farts. Here’s Annick showing a turn of speed, thanks to photoshop…

Us ‘Saga skiers’ can cope ok, but what really gets our hackles up is when young upstarts come along thinking they know it all. It gets our hackles up because normally the do know it all. Take young Alex for example. First time on snow and, after attempting a couple of back flips,

…he was comfortably parallel skiing like a pro. What kind of pro you ask? Don’t ask.

The weather was 'changeable’ as is its want. Upon achieving the summit on that first day, it decided to deteriorate to the point of vengeful wrath.

We were marooned atop a mountain, roughing it in, ahem, a qaint little restaurant. Tough break. Jenny and Alex were without fear and laughed in the face of danger….

After a couple of days of skiing and dog hugging…

…the conditions deteriorated due to water falling from the heavens in a non-white format. We returned early to Lamothe to discover the effects of that rain.

And so, another week passes in the varied and exciting life of the Hydes. Geoff and party left our shores, as John and Susie entered.

Thus another old farts team made ready to part to the Pyrénées, only this time, with added snow.

Stay alert for the next exciting episode…

A flying visit

A lot can happen in a month. Take January for instance (see this blog).

What didn’t happen during our carefully planned visit to Wales was the birth of Lisa’s sproggling, aka Sienna. Deciding not to start her decent down the painful bits to join us in the real, albeit less comfortable, world, was something of a pain. Well, probably more of a pain for Lisa. However, we decided to put things right.

We secretly booked a flight back to Wales. Well, secret to some. We did tell the airline about it.

The flight was somewhat later than usual, causing us to arrive at the cottage at midnight in a terminally exhausted state.

The next morning we dragged ourselves achingly out of bed to be welcomed by the new day.

The threat of rain hung heavy in the skies. A threat soon to be delivered in terrential style. Possibly nothing unusual for this border village, but unwelcome for those in travel mode.

As we were staying there but one night, provisions were at a minimum. Thus started a desperate search for coffee. On discovering only the abomination that is decaf, we left early on a Costa quest.

We settled on a quaint Tintern cafe, next to the old abbey. After a refreshing breakfast of poached egg on toast, accompanied by a real high caffeine coffee, we were ready to face the day.

Well, it was all worth it. The surprise and delight on Lisa’s face was worth its weight in air miles.

Although, to be honest, little Sienna didn’t seem to give a shit….

Our weary return, but a few hours later, found us happy to be home, happy to have seen our second grandchild, happy to have seen those tears of joy.

Good night

Phil's been trafficking again...

Having finished the renovation of the old farmhouse, and coating miles miles of walls with gallons and litres of paint, we’ve now arrived at the finishing touches. Hanging photos.

This has meant trawling through the stuff I’ve taken over the last few years and printing them up.

As the biggest I can print at home is super A3, for the larger spaces I’ve resorted to a few triptychs. Here is where you discover how few photos can be cut into three or how few photos work together as threes.

The other problem is that photos that look great on the old iPad, can look drab on the old wall. Enter photoshop, or, as the French say, Phil’s been trafficking photos again…

Here’s the final list…

Pontvieux - portrait style

Foggy bottom

Winter landscape watercolour

Hairy beasts

3 trees, 3 seasons, 1 mountain

I’m a gnu. How do you do?

The Mara Crossing

Pontvieux - landscape style

and enter the latest applicant from the non-snowy Pyrénées…

A new year, a new life

January has been a good month. On so many levels there are changes afoot. And they are good.

So what’s going on in the Hyde household? Well, the normal roller-coaster of life, which for me has always been somewhat extreme, has hit a plateau. Now, for your normal roller-coaster, plateaux are something to shun. They’re not exciting. Oh really? Well I can tell you mate, plateaux for me are like gold.

And we start at the end and the beginning, on the last day of the month. A new life. A new member of the Hyde family.

Born 5:10pm on Sunday 31 January 2016, weighing in at 6lb 2oz, this little bundle of joy (along with all the bodily functions one finds so often in babies) is our new grandchild. As yet unnamed, and so helpless, she will undoubtedly turn our worlds upside down, but in a good way.

And so my darling daughter Lisa is now a Mum. Just think of that! I’m sure that she is too, lying there in warm love and cold pain. This is what kids do to you, right? Anyway, my congrats to the happy (if somewhat shattered) parents, Lisa and Christian.

I strongly suspect we’ll see more of the nameless one on this blog in weeks and years to come. For instance, she’s coming skiing with us in a few weeks, so I hope she’s good on her feet….

So why else has January been a good month?

Well, our forever home is now truly ours, with our personae writ large all over it. We’ve tried to make it as it once was, but added a large pinch of us.

In other news, my exit strategy (that is, retirement, not passing on to the other side) is moving along at pace. My health has improved, although the hundred day cough has now topped four hundred days. The old house has been fully repaired, post-tornado, giving us some hope that it may soon be sold, replenishing our dwindling coffers. The new pond is ready to receive the ducks and swans, still residing at the old place. This week sees us try to catch the buggers.

We also visited the Pyrénées in search of snow (little luck) …

and Wales in search of sunshine (less luck)

And so life goes on with its wry smile. My morning walks revitalise me each day with constantly changing vistas.

Back inside our new home, I continue to coat the walls with pictures. The new baby has been added to the family photos adorning one of many walls in need of frames. Here’s the rest of the Hyde family portraits hanging there…

Annick’s family, on the other hand, is conciderably larger, and may require the construction of a new house…