Ski season again

After a month of blue skies and sunny days, the snow has finally arrived. I was still having my lunch on the terrace, in a T-shirt on the 1st of December! We were beginning to worry that the snow wouldn't come this year. But last week the skies clouded over, the peaks were hidden from view, and it rained in the valley. So we knew the snow had come, and this was confirmed over the weekend as the curtain of clouds parted to show the mountain tops dusted white. It's not much but it's a start. Saturday and Sunday enthusiasts headed for the hills to 'chauffe les skis', literally warm up there skis. A friend invited me to accompany him on a night ski randonnée as there was a full moon. Ski randonnée is a physical sport, a synthetic skin is attached to your skis, so that you can slide uphill and then, once at the top these are removed and you can ski down. Most often, this activity is done away from ski stations and can be dangerous. Avalanches are a common problem for participants in Ski randonne. I tend to stick to easy, safe routes. On Sunday, as it was the first outing, we followed the piste at our local ski station. Normally, this cannot be done as they prepare the piste at night, and it would be dangerous with all the machines. However, as it was early in the season and the station was not fully open, there was no preparation underway. With the full moon the light was magical, and the silence profound. In my imagination I saw dark shapes flitting between the trees, and expected to hear the howl of one of the wolves said to live in the mountains around hear. But we were the only living things foolish enough to venture out. I found myself quite out of breath as we progressed up the slopes. Soon sweating from physical exertion I removed jacket, hat and gloves. It didn't feel cold despite being -2°C. Unfortunately as we progressed the clouds came over and made it very dark and difficult to ski. Nevertheless it was a very pleasant first outing. I arrived home at midnight and fell quickly into a deep satisfied sleep. Now we have to cross our fingers and hope that the old people are right and that there will be more snow over Christmas. Even if this means putting up with grey skies and rain lower down the mountain, the price to pay for a good ski season.

Sixty million Frenchmen

This is a book I would recommend to anyone who wants to try and get a grip on the French mentality.  Obviously there are some generalisations, just as there would be that tried to understand 60 million British.  However there are some insights and if you've been hear awhile you'll know some of it is true.