Jaillet Skiing Rocks

This morning went well and everyone completed their tasks much earlier than expected. So we grabbed some lunch and were on the hill by 1330! Beccy, Naomi and I headed for the Jaillet side which is the least skied of the resort. I'm not sure why that's true. I think it's better than Rochbrune in terms of extensiveness and better than Mont D'Arbois in terms of snow so I think it's best all round. Here's a panorama taken from one of the restaurant's, admittedly not today as it was much cloudier:

You understand it took a long time to take and I used a piece of software called LAF 1.0 to stitch the panorama together. It's brilliant if you want to do this sort of thing. If you'd like to buy a copy send me £5.00 as a cheque or postal order. Thanks!

Anyway; now I'm down at the Office de Tourisme using their free wireless, but it's not free power so I'll bid you fairwell as my battery is running out having posted about a week and a half of blog. But I'm well looking forward to my next visitor at the end of Feb (Tom), fingers crossed we'll get a bit of powder before then.

Floor Scrubbing

Today was fairly average although the staff’s right to porridge has been withdrawn due to the dwindling supply of oats. Not in the world you understand; just the Chalet. This started me off in a bad mood as unless I get up before the guests there’s no hope of breaky until about 1000. So this is what I did before scrubbing the whole of the kitchen floor, twice.

I attempted to park the van at the princess just after 1300 and lunch, which was acquired at the boulangerie yet another Sunday as again Beccy and I forgot that Shopi is shut most of the day. Attempt is a bit misleading as it was more like a glance at the car park and whince at the sight of a bunch of Frenchies trying to fit 800 cars into a 300 spaces and the adjoining square mile of road. Thus I bypassed that idea especially since I was driving a 17 seater bus and headed for Jaillet for a quick ski.

As I was volunteered to start picking guests up in the bus at 1630 my skiing was cut short slightly. It seems, even though there is a bus 30 minutes before and 40 minutes after 1630, all the guests unexpectedly opted for mine. Still at least James rang me with a bus full of guests to ask me if I would run down to the princess and pick them up.

This evening was Lasagne night which was much better than usual although the staff didn’t get very much. Still it was nice. The evening passed without joke and unusually no attempt at “Ruppli” caused any response from any of the staff. So off to bed and I might play a bit of GTA.

Another Transfer Day

I went to bed with the intention of getting to sleep early but couldn’t quite find the right frame of mind as the day’s events were running through my head. I dropped off eventually.

It was an early start to the day at 0630, the guests all made the bus which departed shortly after 0715. I’m starting to get used to the rotation of the weeks. After waving them all goodbye, including our good friend John, we got to work. I helped upstairs for a while and confused them as I kept doing the wrong thing so I went out and started the van up.

It took quarter of an hour to complete this simple task. On cold and early mornings the battery doesn’t tend to perform as it should. Adam and I jump started it off the external battery which has come in very useful so far. The engine roared with a little extra ooh la-la. I headed off to Geneva at about 1000 for an 1140 pick up; so in plenty of time. As nothing ever runs smoothly, the traffic was almost at a stand still even before Sallanches (the nearest motorway junction and large town) and once on the motorway I queued for nearly an hour. Well the pick up went fine, even if I was a little late, and the run back was perfect with no hold ups whatsoever. On return to the chalet I hastily grabbed a McDo and headed out to the rental shop at 1600.

Champfort Sports, as it is called, was rammed! They ran out of nearly everything! There were no boots, skis, poles nor helmets by the time everyone had departed with their gear.

The evening went quickly and I came to bed just after the last but one guest did at about 1030.

Today Was A Bad Day

The meal at the Brasserie Centrale was good. I had a fondue which was excellent and then came home and waxed lyrical about GTA San Andreas as usual. I got to bed fairly late after demonstrating the most awesome game to the six “down-stairs staff”. I don’t know if I’ve explained this already but in the chalet there are upstairs and downstairs (or more commonly referred to as the dungeon) staff members. Basically the chalet is managed by the upstairs and run by the downstairs. The upstairs staff are constantly worrying and hate the dungeon jokes etc mainly because “they’ve got too much on their plate”. What you also find is that the upstairs blame every error they make on the dungeon, to the point of ridiculousness.

So today Naomi decided to leave because she’s fed up of being treated with no repsect all the time and never doing a thing right. Garry decided to give up in a month. I'm worried that if he goes I’ll have to be the kitchen hand and I would rather go home than work with the Chef. I started clearing the car park which didn’t take long as the “much more than 16cm” turned out to be about 2cm so I just swept it up with a brush. Then recycling. Then for the first time since 1967 I cleaned the boiler room whilst Adam removed the soot from the flue (if that’s how you spell it). It took ages and I started to get worried when the boiler started billowing smoke and the place stank. Once I gave up trying to sweep the crap up to no avail I helped the girls with the rooms lifting the beds etc. Na asked me to get some towels but they all had stains on except for one and in any case feel like that 20 grade sand paper. We finished cleaning at around 1400 for lunch and Andy finally surfaced when James got him out of bed to do the shopping for next week. Once he was gone we started in the kitchen at about 1500. I won’t go there, but all I will say is that the chef has never cleaned the kitchen more than giving the surfaces a wipe with a damp cloth. I can still hear someone hoovering and I can hear someone manoevering the bus outside. The one thing I keep asking myself is why we didn’t do this when we didn’t have guests at the start of the season. To top it off when Beccy and Nicola spoke to Adam about people pulling their weight and doing their job properly it was my name which sprang to Adam’s mind. I don’t seem to do anything right any more. The one good thing that happened all day was that James bought a new hoover and some mop buckets so at least it won’t take so long to clean, I hope.

I worked out that in the last 8 days I’ve skied 4 hours and got paid £1.40 per hour of work and I’m really considering coming home with Na.

I’ve still no idea what I’m doing tomorrow. It’s no new thing. Three weeks ago it was 2030 on the Friday evening and I still didn’t know what time I was supposed to be driving to Geneva and getting rather annoyed that nobody had told me but as Andy put it I “don’t need to f*****g know”, apparently.

My Head Hurts

So I did go out last night at about 2240 by the time we got to the Caleche. Ali and Lee were already there and looked somewhat disgruntled that we’d all turned up and spoiled their romantic evening but what the heck. After a few Mojitos: cheers Fausto: those of us who are hardcore went on to the Club de Jazz and had a few more, those being Naomi, Richard and a guest whose name we didn’t know. I lost count after about five but I think I had double figures of cocktails. The Band, as usual, were pretty good and by the end of it we were well ratted and boogying on down in the middle of the dance floor, which I might add for those of you who haven’t been yet, is about twenty five square feet. Thankfully the guest bought most of our drinks. Except for the first round which Chardi (Richard) got in. Naomi and Rich started to make out in the corner so I just danced with the guest, whose name I still hadn’t figured out.

I got back to the chalet and it was snowing hard, very hard. As the kind of drunk I am I got the shovel out and started salting the path and steps and balcony as I was told we were getting a lot. I guess I knew that I shouldn’t be putting salt on the concrete because apparently it wrecks it but at 0345 in the morning after approximately 100 euros of booze it seemed like a good idea. Now I heard Adam got up and was a bit angry that I’d done it so I’m going to have to find him and apologise.

I never actually finished the job as the remaining three partiers arrived back and Naomi collapsed in the snow. I think I abandoned the spade and went to help. Eventually I got to bed at some time but I don’t remember much about it.

I awoke at some time around 1130 with a banging headache and a mouth like a desert. I couldn’t get out of bed because I was so dizzy so I lay there for a while until Beccy brought me some neurofen and that sorted me after another hour or so in bed. We caught the 1430 bus up and met Garry and Rich up there who informed us that Na was still in bed. I wished I was too.

So my skiing was a bit better, Rich and I were practicing short radius all afternoon and Beccy got a few reds under her belt. She also perfected the high-speed-backwards-upside-down-spin-flip-skis-in-the-air which prompted a round of applause from the bubbles swooping overhead!

Now we’re back and we’re going to go out to the Brasserie Centrale. See you there!

Back On The Piste

It was my breakfast today and it went quite smoothly. Some of the guests were commenting on the petrol situation but I just shrugged it off. Janet was talking about the weather and she told me that there’d be a big drop over the next few days. I relayed the information to the guests who questioned it’s reliability. So after a morning of cleaning out much of the pointless bits in the Chalet I managed to finish at 1200 so caught the 1230 bus to the Princesse.

It was starting to snow whilst we were up there and James told me it is forecast to drop 16cm but he reckons there’ll be more than that.

I got back to the chalet before three having skied like someone with two left legs and before Janet so I set up afternoon tea and completed kids dinner in a good mood. The evening took a turn for the worse later, however, but lets not go there.

I think I’ll go out.

Late Night Meeting

We’ve just had a meeting in the kitchen about the state of affairs. Adam and Andy have told us that they don’t want us bothering James or Janet about problems in the chalet and they have decided to take over running the chalet, not sure if everyone knows yet. Ho hum it’s pretty late and I’m going to watch some family guy!

The Fifth Day

Today is the fifth day of not going skiing that’s the longest it has been since the start of the season and I am starting to get a little disillusioned.

Last night Beccy and I went to the Caleche for some cocktails, I think it’s my favourite place to drink at the moment. It was so good to get out, just the two of us, but I found it difficult not talking about what has been going on in the Chalet.

In the morning I left to drive the white van, which arrived back yesterday evening, to the Princess. Some guests insisted on taking the piss about the petrol again. I finished at about one o’clock and then realised that everyone else had already gone which put me in a mood and I no longer wanted to ski so didn’t bother.

Just now in the bar I confronted Slymon about what he said yesterday in the kitchen. He denied all knowledge. I told him that I didn’t know what he recalled but I clearly remember him saying that I wasn’t insured on the van. He’s now made me more angry. I spoke to Nic after and she and Ali had questioned him last night about the very same thing and it turns out he denied it to them too.

Trouble With The Gendarmes

At 0845 a Gendarme called stopped me for driving the blue van without number plates. I didn’t question as I had seen it coming. I was a bit nervous as I didn’t know what would happen. I dashed inside and woke James up to get the papers and some money as the Gendarme had demanded but he had gone by the time I got back downstairs. The staff in the Kitchen looked worried as I walked in and asked me what was going on. I told them. I took the golf and the guest who was still waiting to go to Champfort Sports and arrived back to see James driving off in the Peugeot. I hoped he wasn’t making a dash for Cuba. As I pulled up Adam jokingly asked me to hide the blue van as he thought that were best. It didn’t help.

On arrival back into the Kitchen Slymon entered behind me. I asked Ali if James had gone to the Gendarmerie with the papers. She didn’t know. I asked if the big Borini bus to replace the minibus was doing more that one trip to the Princess. She didn’t know. Duckett started saying that the van wasn’t insured and it was the driver’s responsibility. He started talking about jail sentences. I looked at him but he refused to make eye contact and started to blush. He went on to say something about fully comp insurance etc. I told him that it was insured and that the Gendarmes had cleared the van without plates. At least that is what James had told me. He shrugged and I walked out.

Later on James arrived back from the Gendarmerie and told me that they were just making trouble and that the Gendarme had probably pocketed the cash which I believe. He said that it was one of those gendarmes who didn’t want the Brits in the resort and he did it to stir a bit and cause a nuisance which I also believe. I told him that I didn’t like being put on the wrong side of the law. He questioned that it was illegal to drive without number plates and told me that in any case it is the business’ responsibility not mine. I wanted to question this but I didn’t have the nerve. I told him what Slymon had said and that really pissed him off. He then re-assured me that the white van would be back that night and none of this mattered or reflected on me.

Later I wanted to go skiing but I couldn’t because I didn’t have enough wax on my skis. I took them to the shop and they told me they were too busy. Their loss as I would’ve bought a pair of poles whilst I waited. I arrived back and pestered Adam into showing me how to do it which he did, by which point it was getting late so this is my fourth day without skiing.

A Van Without Petrol Will Not Run

Yes, so the van ran out of petrol on the way to the Princess bubble with a bunch of guests inside. I wasn’t driving I was just sat in the back whilst Adam drove. He then took great pleasure in telling everyone just who’s responsibility it was to re-fuel the van. I didn’t want to try and talk myself out of it because it would’ve looked a bit like I was trying to make excuses but I had asked James if I could have some money to re-fuel the van and he told me to ignore the fuel gauge as it didn’t work and that it’d be fine. Of course nobody admits that the conversation ever happened. I recall a funny event, one which sticks in your head. The Gendarmes were hovering around outside the Pizza place next door. I thought to myself, I bet they’re trying to catch us in the blue van, and chuckled because it was good timing that I hadn’t put the petrol in it.

So I got back and there were plenty of rooms to clean as my Dad and his Party left in the early morning. I waved them off and got straight to work. I finished at about two o’clock-ish and fell asleep, especially after last night in the Caleche with Fausto, Cath (my Aunt) and my Dad (Mark) ended fairly tardy and then we went on to the Cocoon arriving back home gone 0200 after 3 cocktails and a couple of Piquants. I then got up at 0600 to see them all leave. Not sure if my Dad bothered coming home to bed but he was having some breaky so at least he made it back.

A Closed Mouth Gathers No Feet

A well known phrase in my family. I recall late last night being in Wake Up with everybody and passing comment to Lee about how ugly the Simon Butler Skiing Staff were. He just said, “That’s my wife” which cut the conversation short. I don’t remember much. I think we went to the Cocoon but I can’t be sure. We definitely started in the Caleche where one of the guests was hitting on Lee and Nic and I winking at him and gesturing across the bar to indicate his luck. It was 0345 when I arrived back into the Chalet alone having left the majority of the crowd somewhere and I can recall having an urgent need for a pee on the way home too. It must have been a good night. I awoke for the early breaky at 0600 got dressed and had a morning wee in accordance with my routine, but then it was much larger than normal which threw me a little and I had to go back to sleep. Beccy came barging in at about 0653 and shouted something along the lines of: “get up you lazy bum”. So I did and was greeted with the remainder of the Staff poking fun and making themselves seem hard done by because I was sleeping instead of helping. I was in a bit of a daze and couldn’t really string a coherent sentence together but I didn’t seem drunk as I could walk in a straight line.

I waved goodbye to the majority of my family and later discovered that the skis of those which had stayed had been taken back to the shop prematurely. I drove them to the shop and picked some more up.

After that the day proceeded peculiarly and I picked the task of hoovering. The hoover is defunct so trying to get it to pick the little white pieces of god knows what out of the immensely thinning carpet which I think is 90% dust anyway is no mean feat. Still I think I managed it with style and I thanked the bus people for being late picking the guests up so I had an extra hour and a half to complete my task.

By this time it was 1500 and lunching was a little slow and cumbersome as I had relatively little energy to call upon. At 1600 I started runs to Champfort for some of the guests who didn’t hire equipment from Adam. I didn’t really want to take the blue bus as it’s more visible around town and I always fear I’ll get stopped. Phillipe, the shop owner only reinforced my fears by offering to make up a new one out of wood because the Gendarmes are power hungry.

I wished I could have slept but I continued battling on and eventually the night wrapped itself up.