In this weeks early retirement blog we are in alpine France with the family for a long overdue ski holiday. We nervously await the epic snow conditions that the weather forecasters have given, after arriving in the ski village to find a remarkable lack of snow. During this time, we continue to negotiate via phone, text and email with kitchen fitters and plumbers about the renovations to our dream home in the Yorkshire Dales.
We finally made it to our little ski village in the French alps on Saturday for a weeks skiing with the kids and their partners. We had a clear run up the valley as the New Years traffic that was leaving the Alps stacked up on the other carriageway. In previous years we would have been stuck in that, anxiously thinking about returning to work after a magical festive break- oh how times have changed. Instead we were starting our first official early retirement ski break in the off peak season.
The only thing that could make things better was a bit of snow. The Alps had suffered from some un-seasonally warm temperatures over the Christmas period and snow was in short supply. The media were jumping on the sensationalist bandwagon, announcing the end of Alpine skiing for good. When we arrived in the village you could almost believe the messages they were promoting. There were huge swathes of green, interspersed with thin lines of manmade snow to keep the village alive. We sat out in the sun, it was 10 degrees and had a beer to relax after our long journey. We were pretty confident in the weather forecast that predicted a huge dump of snow in the following 48 hours, but worryingly there were no signs of snow clouds in the air.
The kids arrived safely later that night, luckily in the dark, so they could not witness the full scale of the green village landscape. It was so good to have us all back together again, in a lovely apartment overlooking the slopes. We woke up in the morning to a very fine sprinkling of snow that had little effect on the greenness in the village. However, as we got the first lift up, the snow started to intensify, and it didn’t stop for another 48 hours. How a village and whole resort can change in such a short space of time is beyond belief. By Tuesday we were immersed in a winter wonderland.
We had the most unbelievable day in the mountains on Tuesday, not only was it a bluebird day with clear skies and sun all day, but it was also Molly’s birthday. It certainly was a memorable one together as a family in the snow. A simple lunchtime picnic in the sun was so lovely, followed by a few Apres beers on the mountain and then a brilliant dinner out at the cutest local restaurant in the village. We went hard on the local produce, eating our own bodyweight in cheese based dishes- we don’t know how the locals survive on such a diet- but it was amazing. Fondu, Raclette and Tartiflette made up the holy grail of dishes, washed down with some surprisingly pleasant local red wine!
The following day we had a bit of a disaster, with Molly taking a tumble on one of the runs in an adjacent village. Luckily she was not too badly hurt, but she was unable to ski home and was pretty shook up by the whole thing. After a lot of head scratching as to how we were going to get the girls back to the apartment, we managed to get a local taxi to do the long drive back into the valley and then up to our village. Little did Molly know, but the most terrifying part of the day was yet to come, with Sonia the local driver who didn’t hold back on the horses in true local driving traditions. They had it all apparently- high speeds on mountain passes, crazy overtaking all the time whilst taking calls on her phone!
All too quickly the week came to an end. It was so nice to spend some quality time with the family in one of our happy places. Molly and Charlotte seemed to really enjoy their first skiing experiences and are hopefully keen for more in the future. We waved the kids of with some trepidation as Luke had to do the drive to the airport due to Molly’s injury, Jackie and I were on tenterhooks until we heard that they had made it to the airport safely. No matter how old the kids get, as parents the worry never goes away. Anyway, they made it home safely and we were then free to enjoy another week in France.
As I type this blog, I am sat in the van in a very functional winter campsite in Bourg St Morris as we await another mighty snow storm to arrive- only this time we are in our little campervan, not a spacious and warm apartment. The forecast is due to get down to minus 10 degrees in the valley. More of these adventures next week!
House update…
Even though we are in France, the planning for the house continues. After meeting with the Kitchen designer from Howden’s on the day that we left for skiing, we finally managed to get a quote out of our kitchen fitter. Honestly, at times it feels like a game of chess- with move and counter moves taking place on a regular basis. The initial quote was just a one line cost for supply and fitting. We asked for more details and we were given a supply cost and a fitting cost figure, but with no itemised costings for the kitchen. We are suspicious that the fitter has built in a profit into the supply costs- as the supplier will not share costs with the public as they only deal with the trade, we have no way of checking this. All we want is transparency, which is seemingly pretty hard to come by in house renovations.
We have also arranged a follow-up meeting with the plumbers to discuss with them the finer detail of their quote, as again it doesn’t seem to reflect our requirements that we have already taken them through. The small matter that we have a quote for fitting a bathroom, but with no costings for upgrading the hot water system could be a bit of an issue for us, as a beautiful bathroom is no good with just cold water.
On reflection, these are just the dances we have to do to get where we want to be. It would be too easy to get annoyed or angry about these minor issues- but it is just not worth it, as they really are just that- minor issues.
So that’s it for another week. Think of us this week as we try to get to grips with skiing and living out of our little campervan in the the French Alps.
Have an amazing week..
Richard and Jackie
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