TRAVEL
Most otiiers grew an attachment to the small bar down the hill in the village run by Malik and Rose-Helene who liked us so much that the happy hour lasted all week along with samples of the local " fire-waters" such as Genepy, made from sugar, water and plants! There is no doubt mat Emma Combe discovered a liking for it. On top of this they provided a great opportunity to practise our French without being badgered about agreements, genders and endings! In fact the passion for French (girls) of two members of the party resulted in them accidentally ending up in conversation with an attractive French woman in the wrong hotel. But, enough of the social scene and on to the real reason for being there....: the skiing. It was brilliant! Although it could be a bit dodgy with large ice patches as some of us found out one day when we were involved in a multiple pile-up which resulted in a magnificent black eye for Hazel and a twisted knee for me. Pru also fell foul of the nastier side of skiing when, during a morning's snowboarding, she went one way whilst her board had other ideas and her knee didn't know which to follow. The weather was very kind with snow falling early in the week to be followed by clear blue skies. We were lucky to have such good instructors and everyone enjoyed and benefited from the lessons. During the free skiing time many ventured farther afield to Arc 1600, 1800 and over the top to Arc 2000 while the beginners and less experienced were supervised as a safety precaution; Karen and Emma certainly appreciated this despite the dubious pleasure of an introduction to red slopes very soon after starting their skiing careers.
SKI TRIP The coach was swinging by the time I joined the 1994-95 St. Peter's Ski Trip at Toddington Service Station on the Ml and for me the holiday kicked off with Monty Python's "Life of Brian". A few hours later we were on the ferry speeding our way towards France. The rough crossing made the journey a bit reserved as almost everyone found it much easier to remain seated rather than explore the boat and the duty-free shop. However, a few did try their luck on the fruit machines where Peter Barlow was most successful. As we drove across France we spotted mountains at lunchtime on New Year's Eve but no snow! There was still no sign of snow as we climbed up the mountainside towards the resort. However, when we arrived we were greeted by a heavy snowfall which certainly raised our spirits. We were unpacking the coach when our ski rep Tom appeared; it was his first job, and he greeted us wim the news that the rooms were not quite ready and there was some swapping around to do. When we eventually got to our rooms they were excellent; particularly Claire's suite! All were looking forward to the New Year's Eve party in the hotel which had cost us a fortune. We expected something out of the ordinary and we certainly got it. Some of the blue cocktails proved to be a little stronger than one or two had bargained for! We were familiar with the French custom of spending many hours at the meal table but we had not heard of the practice of eating bread with water for an hour before the first course of the six that were served; but it did give us time to examine the wine list. At 12.00 we all joined in Auld Lang Syne (not a practice familiar to the locals) before the disco where we were treated to classics of the German pop world. This hotel bar proved to be Briony and Claire's base for me week where they indiscriminately tried their luck with anything that moved from bartenders to Dutch tourists (all gorgeous, of course).
No sooner had it all begun, though, and it was over. The days seemed to mould into each other with skiing, meals and apres-ski keeping us occupied all day and noone could believe that we were really going home. Grudgingly we boarded the bus for the return journey. The holiday had been very good and certainly worth every penny. I am happy to say that everyone got on so well and seemed to get to know everyone better: Hazel revealed 38
