It's 9:15pm and we're sitting here waiting for 2008 to end and 2009 to begin. New Years eves always seem like a bit of an anti-climax to me - the old year kind of fizzles out, and the new one just happens. There's no magic thing that happens as such and Jan 1 usually turns out to be just another day where the highlight of the day is realizing that your hangover from the night before has finally gone away.
But it's a great time to be optimistic about all the things that you hope will happen over the next 12 months. We have a few trips in mind for 2009 but nothing very definite, we'll see what deals there might be around. We need to redo my music room and put a couple of new carpets down so we'll hopefully get that done in the first 3 months of the year. I wouldn't mind another car but there's not much wrong with the one I've got, and in anycase I don't want to spend the money if I'm honest.
But if I'm honest I guess the main thing I hope for is that everyone I know has a great year with no major problems or upsets.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Well - I've now got a netbook
Hey I got lucky on Christmas day, after leading me up the garden path by asking me which netbook her friend should buy for her son in law, Sheila got it for me! - a Samsung NC10 and it's a real gem. She got me the blue one which is actually a mauve/blue color and looks really good, certainly a major change from the all those boringblack IBM ThinkPads that I'm used to. The keyboard is almost the same size as a standard laptop to it's dead easy to get to grips with, in fact I think I'm finding it slightly better as it has a really nice feel to it, and is very quiet - practically silent. It's taking me some time to get used to the wide screen and the trackpad which are both new to me but I'm getting used to both of them very quickly now.
The main thing I do love about it though is the fact it's so portable. It weighs next to nothing and fires up in a snap - it's an excellent machine and perfectly fits the bill, and the battery is lasting for ages - 6.5 hours so far and it says there is 50 minutes left! This netbook feels like the perfect machine to fill the gap between my iPod Touch and desktop PC.
The main thing I do love about it though is the fact it's so portable. It weighs next to nothing and fires up in a snap - it's an excellent machine and perfectly fits the bill, and the battery is lasting for ages - 6.5 hours so far and it says there is 50 minutes left! This netbook feels like the perfect machine to fill the gap between my iPod Touch and desktop PC.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Things I think I want
There are two things that I think I really want at the moment, nether of which I actually need, both at opposite ends of the price spectrum, but I think about them everyday anyway. In some ways it's really quite irrational as I can quite easily think of many reasons as to why I don't actually need either of them, both of which I can happily live without.
The first one on my want list is one of these nice little netbook PCs that seem to be everywhere I look at the moment. I certainly don't 'need' another PC, I have five already, but they just look so good in their deep shiny colours and they all look like they are ultra convenient to lug around. I try to justify buying one to myself on the grounds that I will carry it around with me more often, and it will be so convenient to take on holiday where I can use it to instantly download and view any photos I take. In reality they're not actually that expensive so I'm sure I'd get my value out of it.
The second thing, which I am almost obsessed with owning, is a Mercedes-Benz SL. This is a bit more difficult to justify in that it's so expensive, would be (slightly) more expensive to run than my current SLK, but more importantly, would cost quite a bit to buy in the first place. Of course I could justify it on the grounds that it would hopefully last me a long time, so in the long run it won't be so expensive at all. And given that I've managed to keep my SLK for so long, there's no reason to think I wouldn't keep an SL even longer. However, I still like the SLK which seems as dependable as ever and does almost everything that the SL does albeit on a smaller scale. So once again it all seems to be mainly about looks and want, and not need. I think the SL is absolutely stunning from just about every angle it's viewed from, has bucket loads of road presence, and is built like a tank. Every time I see an SL I simply want one, and can't take my eyes of it until it finally disappears out of view.
So what do I do? - I don't need either but I want both. Maybe I just want them and the reality is that if I bought one, or both, I'd wonder what all the fuss was about because owning them wouldn't be as stimulating as wanting them, researching them, and drooling over them.
The first one on my want list is one of these nice little netbook PCs that seem to be everywhere I look at the moment. I certainly don't 'need' another PC, I have five already, but they just look so good in their deep shiny colours and they all look like they are ultra convenient to lug around. I try to justify buying one to myself on the grounds that I will carry it around with me more often, and it will be so convenient to take on holiday where I can use it to instantly download and view any photos I take. In reality they're not actually that expensive so I'm sure I'd get my value out of it.
The second thing, which I am almost obsessed with owning, is a Mercedes-Benz SL. This is a bit more difficult to justify in that it's so expensive, would be (slightly) more expensive to run than my current SLK, but more importantly, would cost quite a bit to buy in the first place. Of course I could justify it on the grounds that it would hopefully last me a long time, so in the long run it won't be so expensive at all. And given that I've managed to keep my SLK for so long, there's no reason to think I wouldn't keep an SL even longer. However, I still like the SLK which seems as dependable as ever and does almost everything that the SL does albeit on a smaller scale. So once again it all seems to be mainly about looks and want, and not need. I think the SL is absolutely stunning from just about every angle it's viewed from, has bucket loads of road presence, and is built like a tank. Every time I see an SL I simply want one, and can't take my eyes of it until it finally disappears out of view.
So what do I do? - I don't need either but I want both. Maybe I just want them and the reality is that if I bought one, or both, I'd wonder what all the fuss was about because owning them wouldn't be as stimulating as wanting them, researching them, and drooling over them.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Russians on vacation
I really don't want to seem xenophobic but....
Women group together and herd off the kids
It's really annoying the way that a lot of the women with small kids seem to hang around in packs without their husbands and then allow their small children to roam freely around the place annoying many innocent couples who are just trying to have some quality time together. If one of us childless couples so much as gave one of their kids an angry look I'm sure we'd be badly thought of for it for starters, but at the same time we are expected to tolerate hours of yelling and grizzling without a care for how we feel about it
Men disappear for what appears to be clandestine meetings
All the while that these women hang out together, smoking endless cigarettes and talking to each other in their loud annoying voices, the husbands are often nowhere to be seen for ages. I noticed on a couple of occasions that they seemed to be meeting up in different places around the island for what looks like little clandestine meetings. Maybe they're plotting a coup to overthrow the Maldivian government and claim the whole place for themselves – they seem to be gradually overrunning the islands anyway.
Almost total lack of manners by western standards
It constantly seems to us that many of them are very abrupt, and rude, to the anyone on the island. They constantly demand this and that and very few of them seem to smile let alone say a quick thank-you when the requested service has been delivered. Apparently though they are not to be blamed for this behaviour. Oh no. This apparently is how they normally act when they are at home and think it's also the way to carry on when they're in someone else's country because “they don't know any different”. Sounds like they need some lessons in how to be gracious to your host if you ask me! Maldivians are so friendly and polite being anything but the same in return is just rude – wherever you come from.
Unhappy faces
Why do they always look so serious and stern – surely living in Russia can't be that bad – although maybe it is! Normally when you're walking around, most people will acknowledge each other with a quick hello, or a nod, or something at least. The Russian way seems to be to completely blank you. If you've managed, after some considerable effort, to make some vague eye contact with one you usually just get the same miserable look and zero reaction even if you dare to say something to them.
Women
Russian women seem to come in two varieties – very slim (actually a bit on the skinny side) and typically with bleached hair, and the sort that looks like they still drive a tractor for a living most days. For some reason there really don't seem to be many that fall into that middle ground. The annoying thing about the slim ones is that they act as though they think they look like something straight out of a glossy magazine, posing and preening at every opportunity, never missing a chance to catch their own reflection, and always strutting around scanning to see who's eyeing them up. Actually compared to most western women they often do look a bit odd, and certainly over the top, so usually they are not being eyed up by anyone for any of the reasons they'd like. One we saw this afternoon, who had managed to get noticed by a lot of people because of her posing and attention grabbing clothes, actually spent some considerable time out on one of the piers taking her own picture over and over!
And another thing about Russian women is the colour of their hair. They seem to have a preference for an odd orange-blond colour, never actually seen anywhere else, or hair that is so dyed that it looks like strands of nylon. I wouldn't be surprised if in their bathrooms at home they didn't have three taps, hot water, cold water, and peroxide such is their apparent liking for this look. Of course they could save all that bleaching by just draping one of those fibre-optic lamps across their heads. This would have the added benefit of it also being able to light up at night therefore enabling them to attract even more attention to themselves.
And finally - look away now! - Men's swimwear
Looking at the swimwear worn by the men from the various nations represented here, it seems obvious to me that the further east you come from the more brief the swimwear you like to wear is likely to be. Men from the UK, Germany, and France seem to favour the knee length baggy shorts. Those from Italy and Greece seem to go more for the slightly tighter shorts. But the men from Russia, usually with accompanying large gut, love the briefest of briefs, a bit like the ones that used to be worn by competition swimmers, or professional wrestlers a few years ago. They can't possibly look in the mirror when they put these things on otherwise they'd surely never emerge and impose this terrifying look on the general public. But hey, in the Russian mind maybe this is a real cool look!
Women group together and herd off the kids
It's really annoying the way that a lot of the women with small kids seem to hang around in packs without their husbands and then allow their small children to roam freely around the place annoying many innocent couples who are just trying to have some quality time together. If one of us childless couples so much as gave one of their kids an angry look I'm sure we'd be badly thought of for it for starters, but at the same time we are expected to tolerate hours of yelling and grizzling without a care for how we feel about it
Men disappear for what appears to be clandestine meetings
All the while that these women hang out together, smoking endless cigarettes and talking to each other in their loud annoying voices, the husbands are often nowhere to be seen for ages. I noticed on a couple of occasions that they seemed to be meeting up in different places around the island for what looks like little clandestine meetings. Maybe they're plotting a coup to overthrow the Maldivian government and claim the whole place for themselves – they seem to be gradually overrunning the islands anyway.
Almost total lack of manners by western standards
It constantly seems to us that many of them are very abrupt, and rude, to the anyone on the island. They constantly demand this and that and very few of them seem to smile let alone say a quick thank-you when the requested service has been delivered. Apparently though they are not to be blamed for this behaviour. Oh no. This apparently is how they normally act when they are at home and think it's also the way to carry on when they're in someone else's country because “they don't know any different”. Sounds like they need some lessons in how to be gracious to your host if you ask me! Maldivians are so friendly and polite being anything but the same in return is just rude – wherever you come from.
Unhappy faces
Why do they always look so serious and stern – surely living in Russia can't be that bad – although maybe it is! Normally when you're walking around, most people will acknowledge each other with a quick hello, or a nod, or something at least. The Russian way seems to be to completely blank you. If you've managed, after some considerable effort, to make some vague eye contact with one you usually just get the same miserable look and zero reaction even if you dare to say something to them.
Women
Russian women seem to come in two varieties – very slim (actually a bit on the skinny side) and typically with bleached hair, and the sort that looks like they still drive a tractor for a living most days. For some reason there really don't seem to be many that fall into that middle ground. The annoying thing about the slim ones is that they act as though they think they look like something straight out of a glossy magazine, posing and preening at every opportunity, never missing a chance to catch their own reflection, and always strutting around scanning to see who's eyeing them up. Actually compared to most western women they often do look a bit odd, and certainly over the top, so usually they are not being eyed up by anyone for any of the reasons they'd like. One we saw this afternoon, who had managed to get noticed by a lot of people because of her posing and attention grabbing clothes, actually spent some considerable time out on one of the piers taking her own picture over and over!
And another thing about Russian women is the colour of their hair. They seem to have a preference for an odd orange-blond colour, never actually seen anywhere else, or hair that is so dyed that it looks like strands of nylon. I wouldn't be surprised if in their bathrooms at home they didn't have three taps, hot water, cold water, and peroxide such is their apparent liking for this look. Of course they could save all that bleaching by just draping one of those fibre-optic lamps across their heads. This would have the added benefit of it also being able to light up at night therefore enabling them to attract even more attention to themselves.
And finally - look away now! - Men's swimwear
Looking at the swimwear worn by the men from the various nations represented here, it seems obvious to me that the further east you come from the more brief the swimwear you like to wear is likely to be. Men from the UK, Germany, and France seem to favour the knee length baggy shorts. Those from Italy and Greece seem to go more for the slightly tighter shorts. But the men from Russia, usually with accompanying large gut, love the briefest of briefs, a bit like the ones that used to be worn by competition swimmers, or professional wrestlers a few years ago. They can't possibly look in the mirror when they put these things on otherwise they'd surely never emerge and impose this terrifying look on the general public. But hey, in the Russian mind maybe this is a real cool look!
Another Maldives vacation
We've just got back from another fabulous three weeks (almost) on Royal Island in the Maldives and the improvements that we saw this year included a lot of effort that had been put into the gardens, not that there was anything wrong with them before, but now they are better than ever. Also four years they've finally got new towels at last!! and very nice they are too. Thick and fluffy with a Royal Island logo embossed into them.
The costs were very similar this year and all the prices are still pretty good for most things – so no major changes there. But no more fancy table decorations for birthdays and anniversarys – we both had a birthday and our anniversary and got nothing special whereas all the other years we had something very special.
As always the staff are one of the very best reasons for coming here and are as happy and friendly as ever. They always remember all the little details that make you feel they really care.
The only real problem was too many Russians! I guess it's a sign of the times, or maybe this is an easy place for them to get to, but either way Western Europeans are greatly outnumbered by Russians. Many (but certainly not all of them) are quite unfriendly and can be very abrupt with the staff. They rarely seem to say much even though it seems they can speak English when they want to. One week we were there the same group of them would regularly completely take over the pool area leaving no chance for anyone else to use the sunbeds or general area.
One particular Russian family dominated the pool bar in the evenings and constantly (and loudly) played DVDs on a laptop for all their kids much to the annoyance of all around. When a German kid sat down with his phone on speaker the Russian mother really layed into him for annoying her kids, even tough she would spend the every evening strutting up and down the pool area yelling into her phone – I guess we were all supposed to think that was OK.
Maybe we just timed it badly but there were a lot of children there this year which also meant the pool area was a very noisy place to be (even if you were lucky enough to get a sun bed). Of course the parents, as always, are totally oblivious to the noise and nuisance their kids are causing to some people around them. There has to be a huge market for child free vacations.
Next year we'll go at a different time in a bid to avoid the Russians and the kids.
The costs were very similar this year and all the prices are still pretty good for most things – so no major changes there. But no more fancy table decorations for birthdays and anniversarys – we both had a birthday and our anniversary and got nothing special whereas all the other years we had something very special.
As always the staff are one of the very best reasons for coming here and are as happy and friendly as ever. They always remember all the little details that make you feel they really care.
The only real problem was too many Russians! I guess it's a sign of the times, or maybe this is an easy place for them to get to, but either way Western Europeans are greatly outnumbered by Russians. Many (but certainly not all of them) are quite unfriendly and can be very abrupt with the staff. They rarely seem to say much even though it seems they can speak English when they want to. One week we were there the same group of them would regularly completely take over the pool area leaving no chance for anyone else to use the sunbeds or general area.
One particular Russian family dominated the pool bar in the evenings and constantly (and loudly) played DVDs on a laptop for all their kids much to the annoyance of all around. When a German kid sat down with his phone on speaker the Russian mother really layed into him for annoying her kids, even tough she would spend the every evening strutting up and down the pool area yelling into her phone – I guess we were all supposed to think that was OK.
Maybe we just timed it badly but there were a lot of children there this year which also meant the pool area was a very noisy place to be (even if you were lucky enough to get a sun bed). Of course the parents, as always, are totally oblivious to the noise and nuisance their kids are causing to some people around them. There has to be a huge market for child free vacations.
Next year we'll go at a different time in a bid to avoid the Russians and the kids.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Flight prices!
Flight prices are just so annoying! We've just spent the last couple of weeks trying to get a good price on 2 flights to Male, Maldives travelling from London. Last year we paid just under £1000 for two seats on regular scheduled flights but this year it's shot up to a best price of £1350.
I'm not so surprised that the ticket price is more expensive than last year given the rising cost of fuel, but what is really annoying is that this price rise seems to be focused on what is perceived by many as a luxury destination. A quick check to other places in the Indian Ocean such as Mauritius would seem to confirm this. But my guess is that airlines think anyone going to these places has pots of cash and will just pay whatever the cost
What's especially annoying, although great for anyone going there, is that despite the rising fuel costs, flights to the US seem to actually be getting cheaper. I can easily go to the LA or San Diego, a similar distance as Male, for a mere £400 per seat in the same time period. I guess the airlines simply feel that anyone travelling east beyond the Mediterranean are easy pickings.
So hopefully we'll get our tickets to Denver in January at a super-duper knocked down price - fat chance!
I'm not so surprised that the ticket price is more expensive than last year given the rising cost of fuel, but what is really annoying is that this price rise seems to be focused on what is perceived by many as a luxury destination. A quick check to other places in the Indian Ocean such as Mauritius would seem to confirm this. But my guess is that airlines think anyone going to these places has pots of cash and will just pay whatever the cost
What's especially annoying, although great for anyone going there, is that despite the rising fuel costs, flights to the US seem to actually be getting cheaper. I can easily go to the LA or San Diego, a similar distance as Male, for a mere £400 per seat in the same time period. I guess the airlines simply feel that anyone travelling east beyond the Mediterranean are easy pickings.
So hopefully we'll get our tickets to Denver in January at a super-duper knocked down price - fat chance!
Monday, August 18, 2008
I just won an iPod Touch
I got home from work to be presented with a gift from Sheila. I was a bit confused as I wasn't expecting anything, so I kind of cautiously opened the box while she was telling me it was to make up for the big bill I would be getting to have her wedding and engagement rings repaired. Still confused the box revealed an Apple iPod Touch and although I was completely knocked out with it I was still a bit confused that she would spend even more money to make up for me having to fork out a lot of money in the first place.
Anyway it turned out that she, or rather I, had won it in a competition that one of the local papers had been running and she had entered using my name.
Wow! - what a prize. This is one really nice gadget that is great to look at and fantastic to use. Everything it does it does very well and with a lot of style. I absolutely love it so much so that now I'd definitely replace it if I lost or broke it, and you can't say that about too many things.
Anyway it turned out that she, or rather I, had won it in a competition that one of the local papers had been running and she had entered using my name.
Wow! - what a prize. This is one really nice gadget that is great to look at and fantastic to use. Everything it does it does very well and with a lot of style. I absolutely love it so much so that now I'd definitely replace it if I lost or broke it, and you can't say that about too many things.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Bordeaux and the Dordogne
We've just got back from a week in south west France where we spent two days in Bordeaux and the rest of the week in Les Eyzies in the Dordogne. Everything about the trip was great - the places, the hotels, the weather , and of course, all the food and drink.
After an overnight ferry crossing from Portsmouth, we drove down in the SLK from Le Havre which took us just over six hours on the autoroutes, so we arrived in Bordeaux at around 5pm leaving us plenty of time for a stroll around before looking for somewhere for dinner. The next day we got an early start and spend the whole day exploring the streets of the old town.
On Monday we set off (roof down) for St Emillon which is a really pretty place about 25 miles east. The weather was perfect except for a short spell while we were having lunch! but it didn't spoil our fun. After we'd had a good look around, had lunch, and bought three bottles of some pretty expensive wine (especially for us), we headed of to Les Eyzies another 40 miles east. We arrived there to find a really pretty little village and our hotel was bang in the middle right next to the river - all very idyllic - it was covered in ivy and was right off a postcard. Our room was very nice with a fantastic modern bathroom just like we'd choose for ourselves, the staff were all very friendly, and the food in the restaurant was something really special and the presentation was just amazing.
We spent our four days there driving around in the sunshine visiting the little medieval villages, châteaux, and vineyards - everywhere we went was really very nice and, as a bonus, pretty quiet too. So we got plenty of exercise, had some great meals, and saw some amazing countryside that we'd never visited before.
We headed up north on Friday and arrived in Guidel, Brittany at around 4pm after a long 400 miles of driving to stay with our friend Pete . He has a house there and we've been planning to visit him for a while so we'd finally made it. He took us out to a local fish place in the evening where we had a great meal and plenty of wine.
On Saturday we began the journey home and judging by the long lines of cars heading south we were leaving at just the right time. This was the weekend that the big European vacation season starts so we were happy to be leaving it behind after a really great weeks vacation.
See pictures
After an overnight ferry crossing from Portsmouth, we drove down in the SLK from Le Havre which took us just over six hours on the autoroutes, so we arrived in Bordeaux at around 5pm leaving us plenty of time for a stroll around before looking for somewhere for dinner. The next day we got an early start and spend the whole day exploring the streets of the old town.
On Monday we set off (roof down) for St Emillon which is a really pretty place about 25 miles east. The weather was perfect except for a short spell while we were having lunch! but it didn't spoil our fun. After we'd had a good look around, had lunch, and bought three bottles of some pretty expensive wine (especially for us), we headed of to Les Eyzies another 40 miles east. We arrived there to find a really pretty little village and our hotel was bang in the middle right next to the river - all very idyllic - it was covered in ivy and was right off a postcard. Our room was very nice with a fantastic modern bathroom just like we'd choose for ourselves, the staff were all very friendly, and the food in the restaurant was something really special and the presentation was just amazing.
We spent our four days there driving around in the sunshine visiting the little medieval villages, châteaux, and vineyards - everywhere we went was really very nice and, as a bonus, pretty quiet too. So we got plenty of exercise, had some great meals, and saw some amazing countryside that we'd never visited before.
We headed up north on Friday and arrived in Guidel, Brittany at around 4pm after a long 400 miles of driving to stay with our friend Pete . He has a house there and we've been planning to visit him for a while so we'd finally made it. He took us out to a local fish place in the evening where we had a great meal and plenty of wine.
On Saturday we began the journey home and judging by the long lines of cars heading south we were leaving at just the right time. This was the weekend that the big European vacation season starts so we were happy to be leaving it behind after a really great weeks vacation.
See pictures
Saturday, April 05, 2008
New guitar
After thinking about it on and off for at least the last 30 years I've finally got around to buying myself a Gibson Les Paul. I've fancied getting one since the late 70s but when I last seriously considered it I ended up getting a Fender Stratocaster and then became hooked on Fenders. However since my interest in playing guitars was reignited about five or six years ago I've been thinking of getting one and now that space for these things is no longer a problem I've been thinking about it more and more.
So after weeks of agonising over which one I really wanted I finally went out and bought myself a Gibson Les Paul Studio and I love it. It doesn't have all the fancy detailing of the Standard or other models but does have pretty much the same build and electronics so the sound is everything you'd expect. It's so different to all my other guitars both in feel to play and in the sound it makes - it's a lot less edgy than the Fender and G&L but produced loads more sustain than either of them.
So after weeks of agonising over which one I really wanted I finally went out and bought myself a Gibson Les Paul Studio and I love it. It doesn't have all the fancy detailing of the Standard or other models but does have pretty much the same build and electronics so the sound is everything you'd expect. It's so different to all my other guitars both in feel to play and in the sound it makes - it's a lot less edgy than the Fender and G&L but produced loads more sustain than either of them.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The Eagles
At Easter we went to London to see The Eagles at the O2 but we made the mistake of trying to combine it with a weekend in London on what turned out to be easily the worst weather weekend of the year.
We arrived in London at about 1:00pm and met up with Matt, Kate, Mike, and Luke, but it was so cold we just stayed in the, relative, warm of the O2 while they went out for boat ride up the River Thames. Showtime was at 7:30 and The Eagles didn't disappoint any of us. They were on for almost 3 hours and we had great seats so we got exactly what we'd hoped for.
The Radisson hotel we stayed at right across the river was very nice and we spend an hour or so in the bar after we got back from the show. When we woke up on Sunday morning not only was it freezing cold but it was snowing really heavily, so having realized all the shops were closed because it was Easter we just came on home.
We arrived in London at about 1:00pm and met up with Matt, Kate, Mike, and Luke, but it was so cold we just stayed in the, relative, warm of the O2 while they went out for boat ride up the River Thames. Showtime was at 7:30 and The Eagles didn't disappoint any of us. They were on for almost 3 hours and we had great seats so we got exactly what we'd hoped for.
The Radisson hotel we stayed at right across the river was very nice and we spend an hour or so in the bar after we got back from the show. When we woke up on Sunday morning not only was it freezing cold but it was snowing really heavily, so having realized all the shops were closed because it was Easter we just came on home.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
24 hours in France
We've just had a weekend in France with dad (who's now in great shape) to restock on wine and all those French things that are difficult to find over here. The hotel we always stay at in Cherbourg had been remodelled since we were last there. Even though it was always good it's now amazing although the price has crept up a bit since last time - but it was well worth it and as always the restaurant was fantastic.
We were a bit strapped for time on this visit so for lunch we found a great new place in town to eat called Brasserie du Commerce - it was very inexpensive but great food and very friendly. They even gave us two really nice Leffe glasses!
We finally can back with about 200 litres of wine between us and a few bags of groceries, so that should keep us going for quite a while! And the bonus is that we've managed to deprive the chancellor of about £200 or so in duty.
We were a bit strapped for time on this visit so for lunch we found a great new place in town to eat called Brasserie du Commerce - it was very inexpensive but great food and very friendly. They even gave us two really nice Leffe glasses!
We finally can back with about 200 litres of wine between us and a few bags of groceries, so that should keep us going for quite a while! And the bonus is that we've managed to deprive the chancellor of about £200 or so in duty.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Skiing
I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted to this blog - we've certainly done a lot of things in the last 3 months that's for sure. The big event was skiing in late January and early February when we went to Colorado for just over 2 weeks.
We flew to Denver and started by spending a day with Babs before driving up into the mountains and on the Avon for the first part of our ski trip. We were staying at the Sheraton Mountain Vista Resort which is at the bottom of the Beaver Creek ski area. The hotels was great and we had a good sized suite that had everything we could possibly need including a grill on the balcony which we put to good use.
We spent most of the days here skiing between Beaver Creek, Arrowhead, and Bachelor Gulch and the weather was very mixed although we could ski everyday. Some days were clear and sunny but bitterly cold, as low as -10C some days, and on other days it snowed non-stop and was (slightly) warmer. Either way the skiing here as always was great and the resort was very quiet. We took a couple of days out while we were there and went the Breckenridge one day and spend another day in and around Avon and Vail. We had planned to Ski an Copper, Keystone and Vail but it was difficult to plan trips outside the valley as there were constatnt sever weather warnings in effect which were always pointing towards a high risk that the passes would be snowed out, which they were a few times, so we didn't want to get stuck in the wrong valley!
After we left Avon we headed up to Steamboat Spring where we met up with John, Dave and Rick from New York, and Deborah and Mark from Denver. We had all rented a condo so we spent the rest of the first day settling in and catching up one with what we'd all been doing for that last 3 years which was the last time we'd all skied together.
The weather conditions here were much the same as they had been the previous week to begin with but we have a lot a fresh snow - about 10 inches per day - and did end up with a couple of really nice days to finish off the trip. It was tremendous fun sharing condo and we had a lot of laughs together - hopefully we'll do it all again next year. All the pictures are here
Here's a short animoto video of our trip...
We flew to Denver and started by spending a day with Babs before driving up into the mountains and on the Avon for the first part of our ski trip. We were staying at the Sheraton Mountain Vista Resort which is at the bottom of the Beaver Creek ski area. The hotels was great and we had a good sized suite that had everything we could possibly need including a grill on the balcony which we put to good use.
We spent most of the days here skiing between Beaver Creek, Arrowhead, and Bachelor Gulch and the weather was very mixed although we could ski everyday. Some days were clear and sunny but bitterly cold, as low as -10C some days, and on other days it snowed non-stop and was (slightly) warmer. Either way the skiing here as always was great and the resort was very quiet. We took a couple of days out while we were there and went the Breckenridge one day and spend another day in and around Avon and Vail. We had planned to Ski an Copper, Keystone and Vail but it was difficult to plan trips outside the valley as there were constatnt sever weather warnings in effect which were always pointing towards a high risk that the passes would be snowed out, which they were a few times, so we didn't want to get stuck in the wrong valley!After we left Avon we headed up to Steamboat Spring where we met up with John, Dave and Rick from New York, and Deborah and Mark from Denver. We had all rented a condo so we spent the rest of the first day settling in and catching up one with what we'd all been doing for that last 3 years which was the last time we'd all skied together.
The weather conditions here were much the same as they had been the previous week to begin with but we have a lot a fresh snow - about 10 inches per day - and did end up with a couple of really nice days to finish off the trip. It was tremendous fun sharing condo and we had a lot of laughs together - hopefully we'll do it all again next year. All the pictures are hereHere's a short animoto video of our trip...
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