The last post

It's finally over. Back in the UK for two weeks now, it has been a strange experience. On the one hand, it is lovely being back in our own house, with all our own things (such as TV for a start!) and with more than one room to spread ourselves around in. It is great being able to go round Sainsburys and buy what we want, regardless of whether you need an oven to do it in, and having so much choice of produce! On the other hand, the view is a little inferior (the fat neighbour across the street in his Y-fronts could never really compete with the sprawling white-topped peaks of Verbier), the weather is crap (rain, wind, grey skies and low teen temperatures versus snow, sun, blue skies and mid-20s) and you can't go skiing anywhere in Tooting (I tried, but Vicki refused to let me onto the roof in my ski boots. Spoilsport).

But on balance I think we are glad to be back, having had a great experience for the last 6 months, even if we do have to have to get back to the reality of work and humdrum life in London. "But how did it all end?" I hear you cry! Well, it was like this...

Work-wise I hit a lucky break. I turned down a three-hour gig to escort a man (one assumes one with rather more money than anything else, let alone sense) on a walk with rackets (for those not familiar with the concept, yes it is as simple as strapping a couple of tennis rackets to your feet) up the mountain. But the only person available to do it already had a 4-hour ski lesson booked. So fortunately for me (and unfortunately for the other instructor) I took her lesson over. This then lead to a further 6 mornings with two teenage girls. So I managed to work all the way until the last Sunday, which boosted my relatively low hours for April. And although the snow was really starting to disappear by then, it was nice to get up the mountain every day.

Vicki's last week of guests was ok, although they probably weren't her best guests of the season. But she toiled away as usual, and even got a night off on the last Saturday which allowed us to go out for a last cheese fondue in Verbier. And a note for cheese-lovers, thanks to Caryl and Bruce who came in January, we discovered the joys of chilli cheese fondue. It gives a nice kick and cuts through all that cheesy goodness. I digress, but a worthy culinary digression is always worth the journey.

That left the last week in Verbier to deal with. Vicki unfortunately had to spend her days cleaning her chalet from top to bottom, but at least it was from 9 to 6 rather than her usual early starts and late finishes. And as I was not working that week, that left us free to enjoy the array of parties going on in town. It started on the Sunday with the SV barbeque after a bit of fancy dress skiing in a blizzard. This was followed a couple of days later with an exclusive night with Yellow Mike, a brilliant live act on the guitar, in one of the bars in town. This saw the exposition of the flaming Sambuca burning finger game. Don't ask, but your imagination is probably telling you the right answer!

The next day I got to go heli-skiing which was amazing. The ski school subsidised the trip so we were allowed to go for about £50 each, which was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The flight in the helicopter was superb (a first for me) and once we had all 28 of us on top of the mountain, off we went.

Now normally, the guides go nice and slowly, leading the way and everyone follows gently behind them. However, with a bunch of ski instructors on an end of season bender, things were slightly less organised! We had a blast and although the snow wasn't the best (a bit of crust at the top with some slushier stuff towards the bottom) the weather was glorious and finished off in style when the snow ran out with a hearty picnic. The red wine and good cheese, enjoyed in the sun was great way to end a great season. However the hour long walk in ski boots down the mountain was slightly less fun, especially in that heat and with skis strapped to my bag.

That evening was the Ski Service party, who are one of the ski rental shops in Verbier. The theme was Mafia and we both made the effort for once and dressed up. Some people had gone to great lengths and came up with some impressive efforts including a body bag (inventive but sweaty after ten minutes in the club!) and plenty of corpses (white shirt and ketchup - nice). Free bar meant everyone had plenty of refreshment and a good night.

Then our last night in Verbier saw us start with a dinner of a gourmet burger in the pub with most of the SV staff, a couple of drinks in one of the other bars where one of Vicki's mates was allowed to play a few songs, finished off with a few free drinks in the bar downstairs from our flat. A hard week all in all, but definitely fun!
Saturday 25th April was the end of our time in Verbier and we travelled to Geneva with a couple of the chefs from SV in glorious sunshine, around Lake Geneva. We left the other two at the airport and trecked into Geneva itself for a couple of days of R&R. We had a lovely time there and explored for all we were worth. Sunday gave us some time to travel to Gingins, the small village where I grew up. After a short train and bus trip, we landed in the centre of Gingins and I set off to give Vicki the full guided tour. A good 25 minutes later, we had run out of things to see! But it was lovely to be back there after so many years, even if Vicki's hayfever kicked in with a vengeance.

A quick trip through Nyon, the nearest town to Gingins, was also a welcome blast from the past before returning to Geneva for our last night in Switzerland. We had a lovely meal and generally made the most of our time there. The weather even gave us an opportunity to get acclimatised to London drizzle. Which was nice.

A fairly uneventful trip back home was made even better by somehow avoiding paying excess baggage, despite being a total of about 25kg over our combined limit! And at £20 per kilo, that would have put quite a dent in our champagne fund!! Since then, we have put the house back together again (out of storage and dusted down - I don't remember having this much stuff!) and spent some time doing nothing, together. Apart from going out for nice lunches and nice pubs. Tough life.

So back to real life it is. I am back at work (and it's about as exciting as I remembered it...) and Vicki is now an official bum. Sorry, I believe the PC term is "job-seeker", but we all know that really means... [Cheeky coming from you Rob!!!] We just have to hope she can find that dream job which will also pay her 6 figures. Fingers crossed!

Thank you all for putting up with our ramblings over the past 6 months. I have certainly enjoyed writing them. We look forward to seeing as many people as possible over the coming months to tell you all how great it was and what a wonderful time we had. But tans are fading, photos are filed and normal life has returned. Bring on winter 09/10!