Hands Up For Those Thinking About Skiing

Now the clocks have changed, the days are getting shorter, and you occasionally get a glimpse on social media that snow is falling across the Alps, I bet that more than a few of us are thinking about skiing again. Although it might feel that cranking on the ski boots, and clipping into your skis, seems like a lifetime away - don't despair, it's sooner than you realise. So with that in mind, how about a quick reflection on last winter's experiences in Méribel to help you along the way with looking forward to this winter. If you are a regular reader of this blog page, then my personal project called 'Humans of Méribel' will be familiar to you - a photo and an accompanying short story with people I might whilst ski instructing works a treat! You will soon get the gist of it .......

"Many years ago I used to work for Coca-Cola. One day we were expecting a visit from the global President at our London office. This coincided with the same day that a friend and colleague was leaving the company. We had this really nice lunch reception before she was due to leave that afternoon. At 3pm my friend came up to me and said that she wasn't into big goodbyes, and was planning on sneaking out without anyone realising. Sure enough, moments later, she snuck out. I rallied the troops and got together a group of female friends."

"We all trotted off down to the underground car park where she would be leaving from. We timed our sending off to what we thought was perfection. Cars leaving the garage had to go through an automated door. Just as it started to open, we all lifted up our blouses and revealed our (covered) boobs. Seconds later we heard a car electric window open, followed by an American voice thanking us for a send off - it was the President of Coca-Cola! Our colleague was in her car directly behind his !?!"

"Over the years I've visited many countries due to work including Russia, Cuba, and lived in Japan and Hong Kong. I also spent six months in Jamaica back in 1980. Most of the time I liked it very much there, it was a fascinating country. I travelled around many different areas including the North Coast and the Blue Mountains which were off the tourist path and quite spectacular. The people were generally friendly."

"1980 saw the infamous Jamaican general election, when there was unprecedented political violence. It was estimated that there were over 800 murders leading up to the election. It was during this period that I became incredibly scared for my life. One night me and a few colleagues were driving through downtown Kingston, and we came across an army roadblock. We were dragged out of the car, and put against a wall just like in the old movies - feet and hands spread apart facing the wall. After a few minutes I risked looking over my shoulder and saw what looked like a sixteen year old boy in army uniform pointing his rifle right at me. They were searching our car for something."

"The irony is they couldn't see anything; the inside light of the car had broken, and they didn't have a torch. Thankfully they eventually decided to allow us on our way. Perhaps it was because we were white foreigners, and probably weren't directly involved with the political violence. We soon learned not to stop at traffic lights, it was decided that it was much safer that way."

"When I go skiing, my pet dog also has her own holiday in the countryside with Grandma and Grandad. She is called Lottie, and is a Cockapoo. Yesterday Grandma told me Lottie ate some horse poo!"

"I keep getting helmet hair!"

"My dad did this really embarrassing thing once when assembling a piece of furniture. He had bought one of those large Ikea wardrobe packs that you have to assemble yourself. The instructions quite clearly stated that two people were required for safe installation. Anyway, dad being dad decided that he could do it all himself. Dad had been working through the instructions for quite sometime, but then my sister and I heard this really loud crash when we were elsewhere in the house. We rushed into the room that he was in and found that various parts of the wardrobe had collapsed on top of him. It took a while to extract him from the furniture. He then rushed to the bathroom to clear up all of the blood. Dad had this large gash on his head, and we all had to go to A&E straight away. This wound stayed on his bald patch for ages!?!"

"I'm Australian, and my name is Sheila!"

So there you go, all just a bit of fun, and hopefully the snowy scenes are helping you look forward to the winter. As mentioned before it's such a privilege being able to meet wonderful people, both new and regular clients, as a ski instructor. The good news is that the temperatures continue to drop across the alps at the moment, with some nice early snow falls as well. Fingers crossed it will be a great start to the winter this year. Have a great weekend everybody, and don't forget to keep an eye on your health and fitness for your skiing holidays, they soon sneak up on you. Martin.