Pic du Midi

A long and early drive today over to Tarbes, in the Hautes-Pyrenees to look at the recently-put-back-on-the-shortlist house. Thought I'd better not post a shot of the house, in case we do buy it and I do myself out of a future desperation blip. So here's the Pic du Midi (big mountain with an observatory on the top) from a motorway services. We like mountains a lot. And the trip to this house is making us ponder whether this is perhaps the place for us.

After a long house viewing (made longer by the son of the house being tucked up in bed at 11am instead of up opening the door for us) we headed south into the mountains for our mini skiing break. Our hotel was closed until 5pm (somehow we had forgotten about the Spanish 12noon - 5pm lunch break!) so we wandered about in the balmy sunshine, had an extravagantly long lunch ourselves (when in Rome...) and finally checked in later.

Then on to the interminable dullness that is ski hire. Mine is quicker as, thanks to having rubbish feet and fat calves, I have my own boots. While waiting for the others to get their equipment I was looking at my boots and found a control I hadn't seen before. Turns out it is some kind of pressure switch that you can turn up or down for better control when racing.... I think perhaps those nice folk at the ski shop in Edinburgh up-sold me on the boots (since the only racing I do when skiing is to be first in the bath at the end of the day).

Anyway, I only chose them because they're a great colour.

(Anyone who says that's such a girly thing to say will get a slap. Even though they're right.)