Wednesday 31 March 2010

Another world

We had a light dusting of snow last night and this morning I woke up to a beautiful wonderland.

This hotel is absolutely wonderful. It has everything including caviár at 800 SFr! I think I'll give that a miss and stick to spag bol at 22 SFr. Or, better still and use the swimming pool and sauna which are free.

This is a glimps into another world and I like it.

It was good to meet up with old friends again. We had a great meal out and my friend Monica had a tad too much wine and became very entertaining.

This morning I chilled out at the spa mineral baths. Very relaxing.

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Tuesday 30 March 2010

Old age? I think so!

With the best will in the world I don't seem able to stop myself doing daft things but the latest thing to happen to me really, really was not my fault and most certainly nothing to do with age. It concerns the complications of my journey today.

As this area, known as 'the 3 valleys', boasts of having more ski runs than anywhere else in the world I naturally assumed it would also have a good transport out of here. When I asked at the hotel if they could tell me the times of the trains to Genèva there was great sucking in of breath. "From here to Genèva? That is difficult. You would need internet and our connection is slow. Ask at the tourist Office". Not even a sucking in of breath there, just a straight no.

I emailed the Office and they came back with a very complicated route and finally, on the advice of Vinnies girlfriend went to another tourist Office where I was able to buy tickets for a bus and two trains.

When I arrived at the station to catch my bus what is the first thing I see? A bus direct to Genèva! Drat and double drat! I spent all that money on tickets that the miserable woman at the ticket counter now refuses to refund. So question, and this is where my age does count, do I spend more money and take a comfortable 2 hour journey on the bus or do I haul myself and my baggage around the country? No contest. I'm on the bus.
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Monday 29 March 2010

Good day, bad day

I had an excellent day. The sun shone, we met Vinnie's girl friend at the top of the mountain for lunch, relaxed and all was going well until I got back to the hotel and my key card wouldn't work. When I checked my paperwork I realised that I should have checked out of this hotel this morning and moved on to my next destination in Switzerland! How could I be so stupid? Don't answer that.

But the good guys back at the Office pulled me out of the mire and I move on tomorrow instead. It will be a long day involving a car journey, 3 changes of trains, 1 bus ride and another car journey. After todays fiasco I wonder if I will actually reach my destination of VIllars? Wish me luck!
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1st time for Everything

This morning was my 1st time for a massage. All went OK until he felt my shoulders. "ah lady zis is not a luxury, zis is a necessity! Your shoulders are very naughty." "naughty?" "yes, naughty" "ah, you mean knotty" "yes, zis is what I say, naughty."

Now there was a time when if a French man said my shoulders were naughty that is exactly what he would have meant! Ah well!

Off up the mountain again now to meet VInnie for lunch. Tiresome I know but, as they say, someones got to do it.

Please keep leaving comments. Únfortunately I can't respond right now but I love to read them.
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Sunday 28 March 2010

Question answered

Beef jerky is carrpachio. Yuck! Tonights menu starts with "Ocean plate". No thank you. I opted for fresh bread, local cheese and a pastry from VInnies "best bakery in the world followed up with apple and, naturally, chocolate. Food fit for a Queen.

Today VInnie took me up to Courcheval. The Weather was perfect, the views stunning and with fresh snow last night the slopes were crowded. I felt guilty about taking him away from his beloved skiing.

At dinner last night I got into a conversation with a lady from the West Indies. She had come over to lose weight because the themal waters here have special properties. Unfortunately she stepped off the plane and collapsed with accute bronchitis had to spend 5 days in hospital. They now say that she is not well enough to take the mineral water treatment.

She has been widowed for 4 years and said it doesn't get any better with time. In an odd way this pleased me because I wouldn't want it to although I do hope to be able to deal with it and allow myself to enjoy life.
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Saturday 27 March 2010

Beef jerky?

The dinner Menu tonight must have been in honour of me - a 19 year old cowgirl - but I must say that I really was not expecting beef jerky in the French Alps.

I had a great day today visiting with VInnie and his friends. They are like family together but unfortunately the season is coming to an end and they will soon have to think where they go to from here.

Whatever they do I am sure it will work out for them because they are all triers that go out and make it happen.


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Shabby chic

I found out the problem. It was a massive double decker train with a buffet bar buried deep somewhere within it's bowels! I never did find it!

"Never mind" I thought "I'll eat at the hotel". Wrong! The Hotel was serving a grand seafood buffet and nothing else. I hate seafood with a passion. Fortunately they took pity on me and dished up a life saving omlette.

My grandson Vinnie had also saved my sanity and sent bananas with my transport. VInnie always brings me bananas because he loves me and he knows that I love bananas!

My transporter was a beautiful giant who had taken time to meet and greet me because VInnie was working. Thank you so much Nick.

The hotel is what I consider typically French - shabby chic.

Now I'm off to find the chair lift to whisk me up to spend the day with VInnie.
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Friday 26 March 2010

Train number 3

No food! Not funny and all annoucements are in French so I don't know if we get food 'at the seat' in a civilised manner. or if we have to forrage for it . What good is that! I will have to watch what these foreigners do
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Champagne? Why not?

Start as you mean to go on I say! Cheers. Next stop Paris.
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Bargain

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Humble beginnings

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OFF TO THE ALPS

I have left everything until the last minute, as usual. How does this wretched device work? I should have tested my memory yesterday. Instead here I am, waiting for my lift to the station, wrestling with my BlackBerry blog download. If I can get the hang of it again I'll post, if not I can probably get online at the hotel.

Goodbye desk. See you again in a couple of weeks! Au revoir xx


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Monday 22 March 2010

BOYS CAN WEAR PINK, CAN'T THEY?

I love this, and how true it is!

BIRTH ORDER OF CHILDREN
1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as your doctor confirms your pregnancy. 2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.
3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.

Preparing for the Birth:
1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.
2nd baby: You don't bother because you remember that last time breathing didn't do a thing. 3rd baby : You ask for an epidural in your eighth month.

The Layette :
1st baby: You pre-wash newborn's clothes, color coordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby's little bureau.
2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only the ones with the darkest stains.
3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can't they?

Worries:
1st baby: At the first sign of distress--a whimper, a frown--you pick up the baby.
2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your firstborn.
3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing.

Dummy:
1st baby: If the dummy falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it.
2nd baby: When the dummy falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby's bottle.
3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.

Nappies:
1st baby: You change your baby's nappy every hour, whether they need it or not.
2nd baby: You change their nappy every two to three hours, if needed.
3rd baby: You try to change their nappy before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.

Activities:
1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics, Baby Swing, and Baby Story Hour.
2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics.
3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaner.

Going Out:
1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home five times.
2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached.
3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.

At Home:
1st baby : You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.
2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.
3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children.

Swallowing Coins:
1st child: You rush the child to the hospital and demand x-rays.
2nd child: You carefully watch for the coin to pass.
3rd child: You deduct it from his pocket money.

GRANDCHILDREN: God's reward for allowing your children to live!

Saturday 20 March 2010

DAVY'S GARDEN

This is our next project. When Davy built our offices this land was left unattended. He had quite gransiose plans for it but when he was ill he lost his mojo and wouldn't let us plan it for him.

Consequently it has been a terrible eyesore for the last couple of years and not a very appealing sight right in front of our beautiful offices.


We now plan to make it his memorial garden with a water feature and benches where anyone can rest awhile and contemplate the universe, eat lunch or whatever.


We got off to an inauspicious start when the neighbour complained that the digger had damaged his wire fence. He came storming into our office with his wife and started shouting his mouth off, but we managed to calm him down when it was explained it had actually been deliberately cut at some time, probably by the ragtag druggies that stole Davy's bike from our garage. We commiserated on the appauling state of crime in this country and he left the very best of friends, well maybe not quite, but at least friendlier.


I should probably add that when I say "our next project" it is actually the project of the kind and able people that populate the office together with the practical assistance of our gardener and our maintenance man. I shall not be getting my hands dirty. Gardens are to admire, not to sweat in.


We are now wondering what to call this garden. Some wag suggested we call it "Fuckwit Corner" because Davy absolutely loved this word and would occasionally be known to use it but I think that we should be able to conjour up something a tad more suitable.


And finally ......Apple announced today that it has developed a breast implant that can store and play music. The iTit will cost from $499 to $699, depending on cup and speaker size.. This is considered a major social breakthrough, because women are always complaining about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them.

Friday 19 March 2010

THE STORY OF TWO CONTRIBUTORS

The first contributor is Lord Ashcroft, a multi-millionaire businessman who resided and paid taxes in the "tax haven" of Belize. He is currently Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party & Member of the Party Board and a major contributor .

This story is far from over yet but it is reported that, amoung other things, to gain a Peerage in 2000 he had to "rationalise" the fact that he was classed as a non-dom. It is claimed that in negotiations with the Conservative Party it was agreed that he would become a UK resident. But, it transpired, he continued to use Belize as a tax shelter. Tut tut. What could the man have been thinking of. Fancy. He didn't want to pour his hard earned money into the Gordon Brown black pit of dispair and bankrupcy.

Now this is the question, were the Conservative Party leaders aware that ? I should say without a doubt, but they refused to confirm this when asked. I sometimes wonder at the intelligence of our politicians. No, scrap that last remark, they are all most definately daft. Or as Orson Wells once said "only very intelligent people don't wish they were in politics".

One of my questions about this murky affair is were the Labour Party completely unaware of his non-dom status and, as Government of the day, if not why not?

My second story is about Unite Union who have contributed £11M to the Labour Party and are now trying to bankrupt one of this countries major companies, British Airways. They are now attempting to draw the Teamster Union into the dispute by lobbying that BA planes should be barred from landing in the US during the impending stike.

Unite has poured more than £460,000 into 148 Labour constituencies around the country. The cash is helping fund the election campaigns of 90 Labour MPs and 58 of the Party's candidates.

On top of that, 110 Labour MPs and 59 of its candidates are fully signed-up members of the union. Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2895689/Half-the-Cabinet-are-paid-by-Unite.html#ixzz0ibfBmKqb. Now that IS murky.

DogLover challenged me to name an inane remark made on TV. OK, I admit I struggle, but I think that the Mandelson rant yesterday came close when he want on about David Cameron not dealing with this sooner. Dah! We know that, but why is the Labour Party not dealing with the several non-doms contributing to their pary? Come on Mandleson don't you have the "backbone or bottle" to face up to your own Party's pending disaster?

And finally .... A little old man shuffled slowly into an ice cream parlor and pulled himself slowly, painfully, up onto a stool. After catching his breath, he ordered a banana split. The waitress asked kindly, 'Crushed nuts?' 'No,' he replied, 'Arthritis'.

Wednesday 17 March 2010

THE HOUSE GAINS SANITY

We started a huge house renovation when Davy was alive which included adding a "Holywood" bedroom with spiral staircase to an attic dressing room, knocking down a wall between the kitchen and small bedroom to make a wonderfull kitchen/family room, moving a staircase, ripping out all the false beams and fireplace in the living room, and finally sub-dividing our original bedroom into two with ensuite bathrooms. The tragedy is that he didn't live to see the finished job which occured a couple of weeks ago.

Complicated I know, but the extra room has made such a massive difference in the household. It feels as though we can all breath again. The girls now have their own rooms where, instead of constantly bickering and keeping each other awake. they read quietly and fall asleep like normal human beings and my baby greatgrandson moved out of my room into their old room where he sleeps undisturbed by my snoring and I sleep undistrubed by his being disturbed, if you know what I mean.

Now I can go back to watching TV in the night when I can't sleep and waking up early with a cup of coffee to shout at yet more inane news and political claptrap. Ah! small pleasures.

Friday 12 March 2010

A GORDON BROWN LOONY TUNE

Our blessed Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently, in all sincerity, compared himself with other party leaders saying "with me what you see is what you get". For once I wholeheartedly agree with him. What I see is madness and mayhem.

Tuesday 9 March 2010

BLOG ON

If you write the numbers from one through to ninety nine you will notice that there is not one "a". Isn't that fascinating.

Talking about fascinating, on Sunday I caught the first of five TV programmes called "Wonders of the Solar System" presented by Brian Cox, Professor of Astronomy. It's being repeated tonight (Tuesday) on BBC2 at 1900, failing that I guess you could catch it on iPlayer. For years Davy had trouble sleeping and I used to read to him. Brian Cox was one of his favourite authors. He is a truly great communicator and the programme is not to be missed.

He used to be a musician, travelled Europe with many rock bands including Thin Lizzy and then decided "I think I'll go to University". He is now 42, good looking and my kinda guy.