Day 1

No network, then. Bugger. So I’m in my room in Haus Kohlerech, in St. Anton. I’m fully tech’d up, with JBL onTour Speakers pumping out iTunes from on top of what looks like a black and white Philips portable TV. The room’s bigger than I expected, and I’ll be vacating it for the twin room next door when Tony arrives. I arrived on time last night, but had to spend ten minutes walking ‘round the hotel, like Jack Nicholson in The Shining (the stubble and manic staring eyes were completely coincidental), trying to find another human being. Eventually, a combination of pressing the ‘family’ apartment buzzer, ringing the phone number and saying ‘Halloo’ very loudly brought Heinrich out of his room (and, presumably, slumber). So, all installed, and the provisions I brought down from Zurich are occupying the fridge nicely. Unfortunately, the fridge tends to turn itself on every ten minutes to maintain the temperature. Not that this, in itself, is unfortunate, but when it’s at the end of your bed and it’s 3am, well, it’s not perfect. Still, I’ll get used to it.

So, I was supposed to meet Sylv at 8:45 at the main lift, but at 7:30 I got a text from her saying she had work. Big thumbs up to that one, and I set my alarm forward an hour before slumping back to sleep. I don’t know if it’s the antibiotics, but I feel quite tired at the moment (although that does tend to be my ‘at rest’ state, as many people know). We eventually met up at quarter to ten, which was fine by me. I’m now fully ‘bearded up’, and I’m not entirely happy with it. It’s the most irritating thing in the world, and I keep catching sight of myself in the mirror and wondering, ‘who’s the vagrant with the massive head?’. My face also feels pretty sore, although I’m told this is a side-effect of the antibiotics. Looking on the bright side, I suppose this may mean I can do away with the epithet ‘hypochondriac’, since I actually do have ailments.

What’s that? The snow? Ah yes. Well, ‘twas a ‘blue-bird’ day today. Hardly a cloud in the sky, and pretty cold. Off-piste was lumpy, rather than crusty, and we found a few patches of powder, but today was mainly about cruising and getting the legs back. I met Sylv okay, then proceeded to spend most of the morning avoiding the weekend skiers, drunkards, children and other assorted maniacs on the main pistes. It was pretty dangerous in places. I was trying to spend most of the day riding switch (backwards), but didn’t really commit to it. It’s early days, though. Sylv managed to take out an eight-year-old girl, much to the chagrin of the child’s father, who ranted and raved at her for a while, totally ignoring the fact that the girl was saying ‘I’m okay daddy. I’m not hurt.’ Parents, eh? During the morning, I was fielding various phone calls from James and Elisa, who’ failed to follow my very clear and concise directions to the apartments (the exact clarity of these instructions was the subject of much discussion over lunch, dinner, driving home…). Anyway, we headed down to join them for lunch, then we all headed back up to Kapall for more messing around in the snow…

…We popped into the Mooservirte for a couple of sherberts, naturally. There were about twenty assorted men and women dressed head to toe in quilted gold lame, looking like extras from Flash Gordon (the one with the Queen soundtrack). Since I’ve been in Zurich for a while now, I pegged them immediately as a ‘Guggaband’. From what I can see, once a year, these guys get costumed up in a ‘Ming the Merciless’ style-ee, and tramp around the streets playing instruments. Sure enough, several hours later, on our way to dinner at ‘Bobos’, we came across them in the middle of the main street, totally shitfaced, and playing The Muppets theme tune (reminds me of the youth concert band I used to play in as a teenager. Only without the alcohol. Generally.) They were great value, anyway.