Hula Hoop Class & Clothes Swap: Sat 13 February

Improving my hula hooping is also on my to-do list and so I’ve signed up for a beginner’s hula hoop class. It is held in the lovely WestHill Community Centre and run by a lovely and very fit woman called Jessica. She introduces us to the idea of Hoop Dance and by the end of the workshop I’ve learn about six new tricks or moves with my hula hoop. I could do the basics before the class but I really feel like I’ve learnt a lot and now just want to perfect what she’s showed me.

Suzanne has come to the class with me and afterwards we drive across town in her gorgeous retro Pao car to go to a clothes swap, or Swishing party, in Kemptown. I’ve looked out about five items to take to the swap and Su has a couple of items, however she nabs a Noa Noa top I’d planned to put in before we even get there. In the end I’m so happy that Su took that top as I got NOTHING from the clothes swap and found the whole set up very stressful and not fun at all. I missed out on a lovely All Saints top which I’m convinced some bitch stole off my hanger after I’d claimed it and I narrowly missed out on these cute ankle boots. Su and I decide to do another clothes swap with friends where it is a lot more amicable and fair.

Free Swimming in Brighton: 7 - 11 February

I’m back in Brighton and it feels lovely to be back. I am however homeless. I managed to rent my room out for weekdays so I can use my bed at the weekend, but not in the week. I am therefore living with Kate this week and although I love her flat it is freezing cold this week and she has chosen the weekend before I move in to remove half her hallway which intensifies the cold air blowing up the stairs.

My focus for the week is to keep my exercise levels up. Kate then informs me she is on a diet so I realise that I will also be healthy eating this week too. I plan to go swimming as much as possible as there was no public pool in Morzine and I’ve missed swimming.

I research pools and gyms in Brighton and sign up for as many free trials as I can.

Monday – swim at St Lukes pool in Hanover. This is not a free swim but I go at Ladies Swim time and the pool is quite empty save for a few older ladies who don’t stay very long. The changing rooms are filthy though and there is only one, dirty shower. Not great.

Tuesday - swim at Prince Regents in central Brighton. This is also not a free swim but I have signed up for 5 days free starting w/c 22 February. I like it here. They’ve improved the changing rooms since I was last here (about 15 years ago) and they are modern and clean with lovely showers and large lockers. The pool is a bit busy and I end up lane swimming which makes me swim faster than usual (which is a probably a good thing).

Thursday – swim at the Hilton Metropole. This is a free swim. I get a tour of the gym and the pool. The gym is small and underequipped. The pool is also quite small. On the plus side though it is almost empty. I swim for a while and enjoy the steam room but there is no way I’d pay to use their facilities.


Other things that occurred this week:

Delicious chilli dinner with Anna and Kate, had an urchin haircut, cooked a rich porcini mushroom soup from River Café cookbook, watched the old West Pier being lit up in lasers and got very cold, ate cakes and drank tea a lot, got builders in to quote on my leaking ceilings, ate sushi and researched 1940s dresses for Dad’s 70th birthday party.

Clean and clear out to Calais. Sat 6 February

After cleaning the chalet to perfection we get our deposit back and a whopping 300 euros each for our season ski passes which we’ve managed to sell on. Result. Adam and I drop Dad off at Les Rhodos to wait for his transfer and then we hit the large out of town Carrefour for French goodies to take back before we hit the road.

We make it to Calais in 7.5 hours (well done Adam) with some help from Adam and Joe on the podcast and are back in Brighton just after 9pm; just in time for a pint in the Coopers.

Last day on skis! Fri 5 February

My last day on the mountain and I decide to ski. Yesterday’s snowboard fun was amazing and I definitely want to do it again, but I also want to leave with happy memories and not injure myself on my last day. So I ski with Dad in the morning, although we’re not up the mountain very early. We do one run with Abby and I feel bad as it is snowing quite heavily and Abby finds it hard work on the board.
She is frustrated as we had such a good day yesterday and today the slopes are very bumpy from the fresh snow. Abby heads home before she hurts herself.

After a second run we stop for lunch and I treat Dad to Spaghetti Bolognese at La Ferme, which is definitely my favourite spot to eat on the mountain and very friendly.

After lunch we bump into Gareth and Kerry (friends from Wales) and Dad announces that he’s off home as he’s tired. I go off-piste with them and do the secret fun tree run off to the right at the top of the Linderet chairlift. The first section is steep and hairy but after that it is a lot of fun and we whoop the whole way down. After that I do the Prolays run one more time (or the Baden run as the boys renamed it in honour of their boy-love for Baden, their snowboard instructor) and then head back to Morzine via Le Crot which is the long run down to Prodain. I get quite sad skiing down this run as I realise it is the last time I will do it for quite a while.

That night, with most of our food gone, we head out for dinner and end up with take-away pizza. Abby has the best pizza with cream, roast pumpkin, goats cheese, pine nuts and honey on top – it is a wonderful combination.

Back on the Board: Thur 4 February

Maybe I’m still drunk from the night before but my aches seem better today and I decide to get back on the snowboard and give it another go. Abby’s enthusiasm for boarding is infectious and we head up to Avoriaz together. The nursery slope has a button lift and I’ve not done one of these yet on a board. I fall the first time but manage to stay on the second time, although I am frozen with fear the whole way up. The photo Abby took is on my first button lift. We do this short run many times until we are quietly confident on the button lift. We are very dehydrated though from the night before and I drink my entire camelpak of Ribena within the first thirty minutes.

Abby and I then do the longer blue run, Proclou, a couple of times and I really start to feel like I’m getting it. It feels great! Edita and Lucy join us mid afternoon but Lucy really isn’t enjoying it and leaves to go drink vin chaud at one of the cafes. Edita stays and does the long blue with us on our final run of the day and then we head to the café to meet Lucy.

As we come down the slope to the café we hear banging techno music and then we see that the good Burger Bar has DJs on their decking and the deck is teaming with fluro kids all dancing madly. We meet Lucy there, drink Mutzig and join in the crazy dancing. Dad comes to meet us when he finishes his lesson and he even has a wee dance.

Abby takes a couple of videos, the funniest of which sees me engulfed by a giant fluro kid who gives me a kiss!

After the dancing we then have to board down the slope to the gondola which is a bit frightening as we are somewhat drunk, but my boarding is actually quite good as alcohol tends to eliminate all sense of fear.

That night Abby and I cook a made-up roast vegetable lasagne. We realise half-way through cooking it that Adam didn’t buy the tinned tomatoes which were on the list. He denies they were on the list but is amenable enough to knock on our neighbour’s door and ask for a tin. We top the lasagne with a mixture of ground breadcrumbs, nuts, parmesan and cayenne which works a treat.

Off Piste Adventure & Night Out: Wed 3 February

Dad and I ski in the morning and then as he has a lesson in the afternoon I go to find Adam who has been riding with some friends that are visiting from Chamonix. I wait at the bottom of the Mossette chairlift and watch Adam finish the end of a long off-piste run, during which he has lost his friends.

The two of us then head over to Linderets where the others are waiting and discuss which route to ski next. I suggest Le Renard (which I did on my off-piste tour) or Satellite. We decide on Satellite however as we traverse across towards it I see that Adam has taken his board off and is walking up the mountain (a route which quite a few others have also walked up). Each time I think we are at the top another hill appears and we keep walking. Near the summit we then walk through deep snow to access some untracked powder.

The top section of the route down is beautiful however we quickly descend through tall trees and the skiable gaps become smaller, the snow heavier and we have the added obstacles of tree wells (tree wells are holes where trees have been covered with snow). Jacky is the first to fall into a tree well and get her board stuck. After she is helped out, with some difficulty, her friend then falls in.

By this point I have taken off my skis (something you are advised never to do but I just can’t find the room to ski here). and a boarder called Ian kindly offers to ride down carrying them. I am now scooting down the mountain on my bottom and I then fall in a tree well, bottom first! Luckily Jacky is nearby and pulls me out. We are all a little fraught and tired by this point. The boys are waiting a little further below for us and then Adam calls to say that we have to hurry as the lifts close in 15 min.

We reach a clearing and are able to put our skis and boards back on and ski down the rest of the way however the route route down to the Ardent gondola is a luge like track that winds around the mountain. By the time we’ve skied to the bottom the lifts are all shut. Luckily there is a ski bus from Ardent back to Morzine and we all pile on and share what remnants of food (old power bars and KitKats) we have on us.

We’ve decided to have a night out tonight so Lucy and Abby make an early dinner of fish curry (a Thai/ Korma hybrid) and Adam creates an original version of Kir Royale with some bubbly that Abby and Carina brought me for my birthday and Ribena! I am brought a glass to enjoy in my bath which feels very decadent.

Our night out consists of Rhodos first for Beat the Barman where Abby wins us our first round, then Café Chaud, the Cavern and then Le Paradis for some dancing. Along the way Edita manages to find some free bread, rolls and pain au chocolat outside a bakery and Lucy lectures some English boys on why it is not appropriate to introduce unknown women to their genitals.

La Ferme for lunch Tue 2 February

Dad gives me some exercises and stretches to do to help my back and these, plus a lot of painkillers, enable me to head back up the mountain today. Dad and I have a leisurely and delicious lunch at La Ferme which is on the run down to Ardent. We share a Croute avec Girolles mushrooms which is very filling and would be too much for one person, especially if you wanted to ski afterwards.

Tonight Lucy and Edita make a fish pie (the third of our stay) and whilst it is very tasty it is very late by the time we eat and it keeps Adam and Dad awake a lot of the night.

Day off from skiing: Mon 1 February

Lucy and Edita arrive today but they cut it very fine for starting their snowboarding lessons. They originally planned to be in Morzine by 10am however Edita texts at 10.25 to say their transfer is just leaving Geneva! Amazingly they manage to make it to their lesson only 20 minutes late, partly due to the fact that Adam drives them to the gondola.

I’ve taken the day off from skiing as my back pain from yesterday has got a lot worse – I can hardly walk! Lucy and Edita give me a pile of presents to open before they leave for the slopes which helps ease my misery at having to stay home. I open a lovely package from Kate, Anna and Fran which includes a funky yellow and blue striped hoody (reversible), a grey hoody and a the biggest grey pompom ever (made by Kate to attach to my helmet). Everyone in the week 1 gang had bobble ski hats and I felt left out, however as I wear a helmet to ski there was little point me buying a bobble hat. Kate came up with the ingenious solution for attaching a bobble to my helmet.

Lucy and Edita have given me some scented soap in a pretty retro box and a book on evolution. I’ve hardly read at all while in the Alps. Danny Wallace’s Yes Man is about it (and a trashy novel that was in the chalet).

Dad goes up the mountain with Abby and skis Morzine on his own today. It is a beautiful day and he doesn’t get as tired today as he is able to take more breaks when I’m not there pushing him to ski more.

Tonight Dad makes chestnut and mushroom stew with mashed potato. He planned this meal from the UK as I told him we had 3 vegetarians this week (to Adam’s horror) however when Lucy and Edita arrive they announce that they might eat meat this week!