classes we made expeditions into the hills. In each successive class we were taught different and new things, and after a week we were capable of going down almost any slope, if we were careful. The afternoon lesson finished at 4-0 p.m. and we generally carried on ski-ing for another half hour and then went back to the hotel, changed, and if we could afford it went for tea at one of the small cafés. During the day it was very hot, but when the sun had gone down it became unpleasantly cold, so we did not ski very late. Our evenings were spent either at the cinema or playing cards in the lounge of the hotel. On New Year's Eve, however, we went to a dance at the local Casino. It cost us the staggering price of £1 merely to get into the dance ! It was worth it, however, as the Swiss make a great deal of the New Year. During the last few days, our lessons in the Ski-School became more than routine practice on the Nursery Slopes. We would go for the lesson up into the high mountains above Davos and ski back to Davos. Typical of these trips was the day we went up to the Strela pass. We went up the Schatzalpbahn which is rather like a cliff railway in Britain, and then changed to a long ski-lift which took us right up to the pass; from here we ski-ed down 2,500 feet back into Davos. On the day before we were due to return home we went out for a whole day's ski-run. We started at 7-30 and caught the first train on the Parsennbahn, which was very crowded; apparently we were not the only ones who wanted to get in a good day's ski-ing. We climbed the 4,000 feet to the top of Weissfluhjoch on the railway, and there we put on our skis and set off. We went on a very roundabout route, and about lunchtime we came upon a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. There we had our lunch. This consisted of a packed lunch provided by the hotel, a great part of this lunch consisted of salami, a very highly seasoned sausage; it is very popular with the Swiss, but not with us British. The instructor did very well out of this, getting three lots of salami on top of his own lunch ! We then went up a ski-lift and set off on a long run down to Davos. Where it was steep and fast we zig-zagged down, and where it was gentle we went straight. It was a wonderful experience, even though at times a little scaring, as when we were going along a ledge with a sheer drop at one side ! Three hours later we were back in Davos, tired but very happy. We had ski-ed 15 miles. Next day we set off for home very sorry to leave, and equally K.B. determined to return some day, the sooner the better.
HOCKEY With an inevitability to which we are fast becoming accustomed the snow arrived in January after our second practice game and retained its grip until the end of February, although it did relent 45
