6th February - Ben's 17th birthday
We paid for a set of driving lessons for him, which could start as soon as he got his provisional licence sorted out.
13th - 21st February - skiing in the Alps
The plan was for me to go to the exam board meeting in Coventry that I needed to go to. Brian, Ben and Beccy would get the 8.30am ferry to Calais, then would drive across France to meet me in Grenoble. My flight from Birmingham International was due to land at 10pm French time and, from Grenoble we would drive into the mountains, arriving at Le Sauze at around 2am on Sunday. It was a very ambitious plan that was bound to have some hitches (my biggest worry was that it was far too dangerous for Brian to drive the whole way to grenoble on his own, even if it was during the day, but he didn't want to wait until Sunday to leave). The most unexpected hitch (although it should in no way have been unexpected) was that Brian was dealing with a work problem he couldn't fix all Friday night and didn't go to bed until 4am. Luckily, even he realised the danger of continuing with the plan and he rang the ferry company to get a later reservation. At around 10.30am he range me and said they wouldn't be on a ferry until around 12.30pm. This would make it impossible for him to get to Grenoble for 10pm and I would have to find a hotel. Worse, although he thought he could make a 12.30pm, he wasn't actually ready yet! We decided it would be best for me to get home so that we could share the driving. The compulsory part of my meeting was finished and it was OK for me to leave. Two high speed trains later and I met them, with a packed car, at Ebbsfleet from where we could take the A2 to Dover.
We finally boarded the 3.30pm ferry, 7 hours later than planned! We ate on the ferry to save time but on the other side we wanted to try to avoid autoroutes where possible so that we could spend more money on skiing.
Having tired of conventional maps, Brian chose to use the navigation system on his mobile phone. He programmed in the destination and, I think, some instruction to find major dual carriageways as a priority. As a result we followed the navigation system into Belgium! We were taken on many highways but on a very indirect route. Brian agreed to be sensible and use a map! At 2am we had reached Troyes (not even as far as Lyons! We found a F1 hotel (I had put my foot down and insisted that we stop and sleep, I'm sure we would have been in trouble if we hadn't). We had about 6 hours, theh drove towards Gap, leaving at around 9.30am and stopping just once on the autoroute (the road of choice now) for brunch.
We had some tea and cake with Jean-Francois, Antoine, Baptiste and Marion (who had come for the weekend) then unpacked the car and made the studio flat homely.
Beccy cooked us some pasta, cheese and ravioli and did the washing and drying up. We had hot chocolate and went to bed as early as we could so that we could get up and on the slopes in the morning. Unfortunately, the studio was so warm it was difficult to sleep and, as we had forgotten to change the time zone, our alarms went off an hour late!
Next day I woke up feeling terrible. I became so hot that I couldn't cool down at all (it eventually took an hour of sitting on the slopes in the snow with my coat open!) My head felt terrible, like the worst hangover ever.
I got everyone's ski passes (5 days for them and just one day for me) then Brian and the children went with JF and Antoine on the chair lift and up onto the mountain. This was Beccy's first experience of snowboarding on real snow since we had an afternoon lesson in New Zealand. She, apparently, did quite well.
By the end of the morning I felt up to some light skiing and I tried out the nursery slope. Things were fine and I tried out a few of the lower runs until the rest came back for lunch. we had lunch with Antoine while JF checked on Baptiste, who was feeling unwell.
After lunch Beccy, Antoine and I took the chair lift and met up with JF to ske some of hte higher green runs while Ben and Brian went further up. JF was impressed with the standard of Ben's skiing. With just a little practice, he said, he would be better than the instructors.
After the skiing we had some time to relax and then went up to the Olivaris' apartment for some dinner. We had another reasonably night (except for Brian, of course).
During the day I found that my headache and dizziness seemed to improve after a large cup of tea. Brina said he felt a similar improvement. We had been drinking water on the journey in the car byt maybe didn't drink enough. Around 5 cups (actually we were drinking from breakfast bowls as the cups weren't big enough) we felt fine. We definitely need our tea!
I had only marked one more paper when I had a call from Brian and a tearful Beccy who said the others weren't waiting for her and had taken her on a run that was too difficult and she wanted to come back down the mountain on her own. Brian didn't want her to do this but he wanted to ski for another 45 minutes until they met with JF and Antoine, he wanted her to wait. I also didn't think she should snowboard down on her own, I didn't have a pass to go up the mountain and so I asked her to wait.
Thirty minutes later, she appeared at the door. She had realised that if she just went, no one could stop her and she wouldn't have to go back! She was quite distressed and feeling hard done by (she wasn't put off snowboarding and went out with Antoine on the lower slopes in the afternoon). We had a drink and a talk and waited for the others to come back for lunch, which we shared with the Olivaris along with the left over pasta from the previous night's dinner.
All this was a distraction from the problem of having a car that wouldn't start. We decided to use the breakdown assistance and, when Brian and Ben went back out to ski, I called them. Within 30 minutes or so, a local mechanic had come out and had diagnosed the problem. A further 30 minutes and we had taken the car into Barcelonnette and it had been repaired. It needed glo-plugs. Apparently, modern diesels will start in most temperatures without glo-plugs and so many people don't know that theirs don't work. In temperatures of -20 degrees C, however, glo-plugs are needed and mine were defunct. I think we were very fortunate to find this out on Tuesday and not on Saturday morning at 6am when we needed to return home. We were booked on the last ferry (11.15pm) and missing it meant another overnight stay in a hotel.
By the evening I was able to drive to the supermarket and buy the ingredients for a chicken risotto for us and the Olivaris.
Before dinner we went out to the slopes to watch the torchlight procession where the instructors ski down from the top of the mountain. This was followed by fireworks, hot wine and hot chocolate. This event is organised by the resort to welcome the people of the Marseille region who arrive this week because it is the first week of their holidays. We rounded off the evening, after dinner and after the Olivaris had left by watching "Yes Man" starring Jim Carrey. This was a very entertaining family film.
Ben and Brian went out at around 9.30am on Wednesday and, again, up to the top of the mountain. JF and Baptiste were both unwell and spent the day in bed. Beccy, Antoine and I went out on the lower slopes to do some easy runs. Beccy and Antoine often waited for me to catch them up and spent the time throwing snowballs at each other.
After lunch, Beccy, Antoine and I walked to the photographer's shop to have a look at the photos she had taken of Ben and Beccy the day before. We arrived 20 minutes before the shop opened and so had a walk around and looked in every shop, and the cinema, while we waited. There were some lovely shots of the children and I bought two photos, one of each of them lying in the snow.
We skied just for an hour in the afternoon, on the same slope as in the morning. My skiing remains about the same as ever; I can parallel turn and stay in control but hate going fast so the gentle green slopes are great for me. Beccy is improving all the time, as is Ben. Both can do full turns.
Antoine ate with us in the evening as JF and Baptiste did not want to eat. During all the evening we were watching the French coverage of the winter Olympics, with the exception of Tuesday when we all watched Lyons v Real Madrid. Baptiste is a fan of Lyons (he said he doesn't follow Marseilles even though they are his local team).
Brian and I were sleeping better by Wednesday as we found a spare mattress and he started sleeping on the floor while I had the sofa. We had started on the sofa bed with our sleeping bags zipped together and kept each other awake. I realised that I go to bed alone every night and Brian turns up only a few hours before I get up and when I am fast asleep. I have got used to sleeping on my own and using a double sleeping bag, which got constantly in a tangle, didn't help at all.
Thursday was another 'no ski' day for me. Beccy wasn't feeling too great so stayed in bed in the morning watching a DVD while I did some marking and had a bath.
Later in teh morning we drove into Barcelonnette, looked quicly around the shops and went to the supermarket. The roads were clear and the car was warm. There was very little sign of yesterday's snowfall anywhere except on the slopes.
Beccy went out with Ben and Brian in the afternoon and seemed to cope fine this time. She is gaining in confidence and skill all the time. I'm really disappointed that I haven't seen Ben ski much. He always looks so natural and I love to watch him.
I cooked for seven of us in the evening, chicken with a pesto sauce, new potatoes, carrots, salad, bread and, for dessert creme brulee and creme cafe.. There pots were a definite favourite except with Beccy who had cake.
We were still watching the Olympics every night and baking in the heat of the studio. We had turned down the radiator in the main room but, as we had never noticed it being on, it hadn't seemed to make a great deal of difference. It was often quite unbearably hot unless you stripped down to a minimum and slept with no covers!
Friday was the last day for skiing. Beccy and I went out on the same lower slope we skied on wednesday and Ben and Brian went up the mountain. Unfortunately, after only an hour I was totally exhausted. Beccy did a few runs on her own while I waited at the bottom, then we went for provisions (bread and chocolate) and back to the studio for a cup of tea. After a rest we went back to the same slope and I took videos of her doing some small jumps and some impressive 360 degree turns.
After lunch we did the same, while Ben and Brian got some video footage of Ben's aardvark for a film he was making.
I ran out of things to read. My most recent book "The Lost Daughter" by Diane Chamberlain was a present from Beccy for Mother's Day. It was a totally gripping read and, in the end, I found it very difficult to put down. I went through a long phase of not enjoying fiction but now can't understand why. As long as it isn't just pure escapism and has some sort of message or moral, I can't understand what there was to dislike. Maybe I just read a few of the wrong books. this one covered the loss of both parents by a young child, foster care, parenting and the death penalty! Even though the storyline should stretch the imagination to its limits, the characters were totally believable and you could identify strongly with CeeCee, the main character. This was the last in a series of really good fiction books that I have read.
The total cost of the skiing holiday including ski hire and lift passes, food, drink and travel was around £1500 for four of us. Not bad and it was a good break. The drive back took almost as long as the drive there, although we kept to the autoroutes this time. We made the ferry and got back to a warm fire that Mum had very kindly lit for us.
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