Friday, 26 June 2009

HAPPY





































I knew I should go up to the ski slopes. Most of my money is invested in doing so. That and mobile phones. I had to buy Meg a new sim card for her old phone, which was $30 and the minimum top up was $20. Finn got her 'no longer required' phone and that got a $10 top up. Meg got a free$10 top up for filling in a personal profile for vodafone. Finn complained that he only had $10. I topped up my own phone but forgot that I had vodafone and bought a telecom top up for $20. Finn has Telecom so he now has $30 credit and I had to buy another $20 for me. Spook doesn't have phone as his broke.

I was worried that I might become SAD about all this, so headed for the sunshine as it was dangerously grey. But I was really nervous. I don't know the slopes, it's on the other side of the world, and I get this vertigo sort of feeling that I'll fall off the mountain. I do deserve to suffer a bit. When I was 17, friends and I borrowed a Nissan Cherry and headed for Aviemore. 2 of us could ski and 2 couldn't. After stuffing 4 sets of skis and boots into the car, I took a wrong turn and ended up at The Wall. This invovled the 2 non-skiers getting on a chair lift without ever having had skis on their feet. I told them there wasn't much to it and made them get on. Nothing could persuade them to get off at the other end and the last I saw of them on that trip was as they headed a lonely trip back down the chair lift.

When I was 30 I talked Irish Kate into coming snowboarding with me. Having been brought up in Ireland, she had never been on a ski slope. I reasoned with her that as I had only actually boarded once and wasn't very good at it, we were pretty equal and it would be great fun. After clinging on to her board and me all the way up the chair lift, she was so relieved to get off alive that she put her board down and it shot off down the hill without her, ploughing through anyone in it's way and straight to the bottom.

So it was good to feel a bit out of my depth and to gain some insight into my past - or at least what friends might have thought of me. The slopes were far kinder to me than Scottish slopes had been to my friends and with the shadowy whisper of Nicky S chanting "falling leave, falling leave" I made my way safely, though more dropping acorn than falling leave, back to base. I came down with a German man who was on his first attempt at snowboarding. We were pretty much on a par and quite pleased with ourselves. He asked if it was my first day. I laughed and said I had been working at this since I was 3o, and tried not to look 45.
grateful for:
my first ever season pass
forgiving slopes and forgiving friends
being above the clouds (you can just see Wanakas lid past my right arm)

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