Arinsal Andorra

I have enjoyed a week of good weather and great company . We had a small overnight fall of snow otherwise the weather was good. I had a beginners group. All twelve were Irish (2 from N.I. and 10 from the Republic. We enjoyed our time on the slopes and met in the evenings to watch ourselves on video, in several bars. Sometimes, the videos were hilarious and other times educational. We had one casualty; Paddy (a great character) injured his knee but was talking about returning next season.

On Wednesday night, we enjoyed a late night Karaoke session in the Derby. I am sorry to report that out of my 12 strong backing group, only 4 made it to the slopes on Thursday morning. (Well it is their holiday; they can do what they want.) I had good attendance for the Friday morning Slalom race. Won by Stephen, who loved skiing from the very first day.

I am going to finish with a Mark Twain quotation (I don’t know why);

“Go to heaven for the climate, hell for the company.”

Burns Night

Regular readers will have noticed that I did not post a report last week. This is due to the fact that I had to return to the U.K. for some medical treatment for A.R.M.D. I returned to Arinsal last night, so on Sunday morning I had a great time skiing. The light was flat in the morning but brightened up in the afternoon. The snow was great all day.

It made a nice change to be back home to see my family during the winter. The weather was awful, so in many ways I was glad to be back in Arinsal. I did manage to get a couple of games of badminton during my visit. Two of our mature but fit members are going skiing next week and this made me think of one of things that I keep repeating. Do some exercise before coming skiing. It is often the unfit person who picks up a niggling little injury during their holiday. Enough of my lecturing, now for the commercial;

A week tomorrow (25th), will be Robert Burns’s’ 251st birthday. The Palrine will be holding a Burns Supper with fine Scottish food, including Haggis, Tatties and Neeps. We then have some Scottish Country dancing, a little poetry and modern live music. It promises to be a great evening. For the less sophisticated holidaymaker we hope to hold a Burns party in Bogart’s Bar in the Princessa Park Hotel on Saturday 30th. This is a similar night to the Palarine’s but with a lot less food and a lot more drink, This event is popular with the ski instructors, as we can usually rest on Sundays after Mass, whilst all you nice people are travelling to Arinsal.. So if there are any Jocks visiting that week. Bring your kilt.

We apologoise to regular readers for the late appearance of Number One's New Year report. The report was provided for us on time by Number One but we somehow missed posting it to the website during the holiday period.

Happy New Year

The weather this week has been very changeable. We have had wind rain and snow. The temperature has varied from warm to very cold. This week the New Year’s Eve party was the big social occasion. All the usual bars, El Cau, El Moli, Quo Vadis, El Derbi and Cisco’s had very successful parties. I chose to stay in my hotel, The Palarine, which had a special Chinese Dinner and fancy dress party with free drinks.

I was surprised how many people had made a great effort to dress up. Stuart (BBA) was an unmistakeable Freddie Mercury I made a feeble attempt to dress as a pirate. There were several other pirates, all better than me. Paul, the barman looked splendid in a Johnny Depp costume. I concluded, that with so many great pirate costumes around that I could not be Captain Blood but merely Roger the Cabin Boy.

The ladies looked lovely. Fiona was magnificent in her nurse’s costume. Due to N.H.S. cuts, there was very little material in her nurse’s uniform, so one could quite clearly see the colour of her bra, pants and suspenders.(red, by the way) Jane, a lovely local lady, looked delicious in her Bunny Girl outfit. Jane and I had the first dance to get the party moving. Well, Jane is 3 inches taller than me. She was wearing boots with 3 inch heels and of course, bunny ears. This meant that every time I attempted to twirl her, my rather short arms knocked off her bunny girl ears. Jane then had to bend down to pick up her ears; this gave a lovely view of her beautiful cottontail.

There were just too many stunning ladies to mention them all. I had one very pleasant dance with Bubbles DeVere from Little Britain.. I happened to notice that a curvaceous lady had a rude comment on the back of her Anne Summers’ knickers. I won’t repeat it to avoid upsetting the more sensitive readers.

Just after midnight it started to snow quite heavily, so the conga ended up in the street, followed by the inevitable snow ball fight. Ladies with an exposed cleavage became very obvious targets.

I left the party to get just over three hours sleep as I had a class at 9 am. Only 4 out of 11 of my group arrived at 9 o’clock. Well done to Rhian, Dave, Noel and Sam. At my first prearranged coffee stop I was joined by five more of the class. In the end only two of my class did not make it to the mountain on New Years Day.

Overall I think that it was a very succesful week.

CHRISTMAS WEEK

We have just finished our first week teaching English groups. There were a lot of families here, as it was Christmas week. The weather was not kind to them. We had cloud and snow most days and a horrible wet Christmas Eve. On the positive side Christmas Days was a glorious sunny day and the snow was in good condition. We all had a great day, which washed away the memory of the previous day’s soaking..

I should mention the social side of Christmas; EL CAU held a Christmas Party, aimed mainly at families. A more grown up party was in full swing in the QUO VADIS bar when I left. Christmas day was a working day for instructors, most of whom had a class at 9.

STUART (BBA) bribed me into dressing as Santa Claus and distributing presents to the guests having Christmas lunch. The bribe consisted of unlimited beer in the bar of the PALARINE, whilst dressed as Santa. I made the most of this offer until I realised that I may be disillusioning the younger guests, into thinking that Santa Claus was an alco-junky. I decided to retire to my room, with a very soggy beard.

On Boxing Day morning there was a fresh fall of snow in the village. I am looking forward to seeing the new arrivals tomorrow. These lucky guests will enjoy a fabulous fancy dress party, on New Year’s Eve, with drinks included at the PALARINE. Sadly New Year’s day is a normal working day for instructors. It is a great life being an instructor but sometimes, it has disadvantages.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

We had a big snow fall at the beginning of November and again during the first week of December, so we had great expectations for a great season. Most of that snow disappear during a warm spell but for the last week it has been very cold, so the snow cannons have been on and the pistes are now in good condition. On the night of Friday 19th we had a small dusting of snow. It was just enough to brighten up things. However there was just about enough to bring London to a complete stand still.

We are all expecting an increase of number of guests this season. Last year, like most other resorts, we had few visitors due to the world financial situation. Tomorrow, Sunday 20th December, we will see the arrival of our first British groups of the season. Some instructors may be in the bars, observing the new arrivals, looking out for the fit ones. It is not good if you have some unfit ones in their group. They are more prone to hurt themselves and find it difficult keeping up with the rest of the group.

Skiing is a physically demanding sport. I must admit that after my first few days of skiing this season, my poor little Scottish legs had very stiff and tender thighs. I did try to get as much exercise as I could before the start of the season. Even then I felt slight discomfort in the evenings.

I have found that guest who are reasonably fit tend to enjoy their skiing more. I realise that not everyone has the time or inclination to visit one of the many gyms that have sprung up all over towns. Those who go should consult the professional trainers, for advice on suitable exercises for skiers. For the rest of you, who will be the vast majority, I would suggest taking part in any exercise that you enjoy will improve your skiing. One of the simplest exercises is just walking up stairs. I really do believe that any extra activity will benefit your safety and comfort.

I hope to meet lots of you,+ fit or not, in the near future and feel sure that you will thoroughly enjoy Arinsal.