Wednesday, December 20, 2006

A quick ski trip to Engelberg






Took a quick break to get some pre-Christmas skiing in. Early am flight to Zurich, with plenty of time to get an afternoon on the slopes. Except for the plane being an hour late departing, traffic jams in Zurich and fog all the way. We gave up and took a long late lunch instead.
The World Cup Ski Jumping circuit was in town for the weekend, so the resort was quite busy, and together with a Christmas Fair in the centre, it felt very festive.

Strangely, all the shops in the village closed up at 5pm on the Saturday, ignoring the crowds staring through their windows.

Engelberg is situated at around 1000 metres, rising to 3028 metres with glacier skiing available. Access to the glacier is via a revolving cable car, which gives great views. It rotates quite slowly, and I did wonder if it had a spin cycle.




The glacier had the best snow, so was pretty busy at the weekend. It was really great to get onto well prepared glacier slopes, really early in the day, and be able to go as fast as I can, with no-one else about. On the lower slopes, conditions were quite variable, with rocks, ice and bare patches to catch the unwary. Our skis needed a full service and repair after three days in these conditions. We braved the two days of fog, which made the slopes quite challenging. The resort had also started their snowmaking cannons, which added to the fog effect.





Our journey home was also eventful, as our plane was cancelled, we were put onto an earlier one, which was then delayed, and flew into a fogbound London Heathrow, where we waited ages to disembark, initially waiting for a stand, then waiting for a bus, followed by chaos in the baggage hall due to a machinery breakdown earlier in the week.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Getting Good and Muddy


I enjoy off-road driving, so when I was invited to a UK Land Rover Test Centre, I was fortunate to be offered a very expensive new Range Rover V8. It's great to be able to get a posh car good and muddy, on a varied circuit, and to be able to hand it back dirty!
Part of the circuit was for demonstration, so the driving was undertaken by an instructor. Here's the car in a little sideways slide, just over the brow of a steep drop. Great fun.

Monday, November 13, 2006

I could not help myself


When is Spain, I do try to eat local food and drink. Took a quick night time trip across to Barcelona, followed by a two hour drive to our house. Next morning up and away to Southern Valencia to visit my Mother who has broken her leg. She seemed to be fine, so set off to return to our place, and realised that we had no food in the house and would arrive after the shops close. The Costa Blanca is a very popular destination for British holidaymakers and home buyers. Consequently, in the first supermarket I entered, I was drawn to buying English bread. I felt guilty and a bit embarrassed afterwards. To be fair, it was very tasty, and the remainder of the loaf flew home with us.

While I write this blog, I am eating Spanish Chocolate, so there is hope for me!


The weather had been fair up until the day before we arrived, broke for our stay, and resumed blue sky normality a day after we returned home.


My Mother is still complaining about the rubbish collection waking her up. She is so lucky.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Boiled or Fried....A Day Out On The Ebro Delta


We took a drive out about a hour north to one of Spain's biggest rice growing areas. The Ebro Delta is very large, and very, very flat. We drove past kilometres of irrigation channels and flooded fields, with rice growing, very much in evidence. Naturally, the souvenir shops sell...rice!
It's a very popular destination for fishermen, there are boats for hire, and lots of seafood restaurants.
Part of the Delta is a designated Nature Reserve, with well laid out routes to follow, and local information boards in several languages.
Surprisingly, there are also large unspoiled beaches, with sand dunes and some holiday accommodation nearby.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

We Never Had it So Good

My local council in the UK, charges me a large sum of money for collecting my rubbish once a week. Now, they plan to collect the rubbish once every two weeks,with no reduction in charges. Meanwhile, over in Valencia, where the Council Tax is tiny by comparison, my Mother complains about the rubbish lorry men waking her up each night, when they collect the trash.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Paella Time


It's great to get back to Spain and chill out. The view from the house is always amazing, and we get to see some interesting weather, as well as the expected sunshine. It was Fiesta time, so the resort was buzzing, though we made time to chill out in our rooftop pool every day, and do some cycling along the coast.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

A Natural Born Worrier

At the end of July, I emailed our Swiss solicitor to ask her advice and get some facts clarified. Trust me to ask the questions right at the start of the holiday period in Valais. So I sent a 2nd email mid August. No reply yet. I thought it was only the Mediterranean countries that closed down for August...

Monday, July 31, 2006

Dish of The Day


I can make a reasonable Paella, which is the regional dish of Valencia, though I feel that it's possible too go to far with authenticity. For the meat, I tend to use chicken instead of the traditional Water Rat, which used to be plentiful in the rice fields around Valencia. It was time to try a Swiss dish. I have a friend who lives in the Swiss Alps who seems very fond of Croûte au fromage, so I decided to give it a go. It looked a lot like the photo above, it's very filling, and I'm amazed that anyone could hike or ski after having Croûte for lunch. I settled down on the sofa for a snooze.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

The Early Bird......


In our household, I'm always the one to book holidays, early. I always arrive at airports hours before our flight departs, and I'm always first in the line. As we are buying an apartment in a Swiss ski resort, we can stay there as regular tourists, whilst we await a permit from the Canton. Unless of course, someone else has made a booking whilst we debated my early booking habit. Which is exactly what has happened. I need to raise my game if I want to stay in our place.

Monday, July 17, 2006

The English Habit

It's a national pastime to talk about the weather. One set of parents moved to Spain late last year, where they initially stayed in our place. They liked the house, but the weather 2 hours south of Barcelona was too wet and too cold, they told me, and so they moved south as soon as the furniture arrived. Now resident in southern Valencia, our regular phone conversations are filled with tales of how it's too hot, and how they hate the heat there.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Why do they do that?

Spanish Banks that is. They make a charge for me leaving my money with them. They earn money from that, which they keep for themselves. Then, when I set up a Direct debit for a utility bill, each month, they send me a letter telling me that they have sent the payment. They charge me for that too. I should have opened a Bank.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

The Big Game Plan....

It's good to plan ahead. In this instance, years ahead, take on extra borrowing and try and fund an idyllic retirement by having a place on the Med, and a place in a Swiss alpine village. Lots of "if's" and "buts", though most of it comes down to money..As usual.