Monday 11 February 2008

Pyres on the Pyrenees

To continue the Reality TV theme for one more post, we just went on a skiing holiday.

Only for the weekend.

And only because it cost 20 euros each for me and Clare, and 10 euros each for the kids - which included transport, overnight accommodation, and breakfast and dinner on Saturday and Sunday. It had its moments. Here are two of them:

MOMENT ONE
The coach is speeding down a country road. The (surprisingly loud) onboard teenagers hold a mobile phone MP3 player to the driver's microphone, and sing along to (presumably Algerian-inspired c)rap music. Boy screams his disapproval and I don't believe it can get any worse.

MOMENT TWO
Me and The Daughter are sitting on a ski lift, surrounded by mountains. The air is beautifully clear - apart from a dense brown cloud on the left which stretches across the sky until it meets another city-sized area of smog. Alarmingly, at least two of the mountains are on fire.

More alarmingly, the fires are intentional. Some farmers are apparently taking advantage of the fact that the mountains are almost completely free of snow, and improving their soil. Let's hope they can find a way to water whatever they plan to grow.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Skilling? With no snow?? Is that why it only cost 60 euros* for the lot of you?? (

*(maddenly, my keyboard brags the little 'euro e' 'but despite my twister-like contortions, refuses to give up it's secret. . . .)

Anonymous said...

Do you remember the 'Lost Consonants'? I think it was in the Guardian in the early 1990's. You'll remember it if you know it. My all time favourite was a picture of the musical maestro at the piano with the caption "Andrew Lloyd Webber writes another hit musical." It took a moment but I guffawed when I realised what the missing consonant was! :-)

Anonymous said...

Ah, here it is; Graham Rawle was the creator of the Lost Consonants.

http://www.grahamrawle.com/Shop/shop1.html

And as I am sticking in links, I have mostly chuckling this week at

www.icanhascheezburger.com

and enjoying

www.postsecret.blogspot.com (I have the books, I enjoy the Sunday site updates.)

So. There you go.

See ya . . . .

the devolutionary said...

On this keyboard, the euro is "alt+2". If you're using a PC (Piece of Crap, I always thought it stood for), you can try "insert symbol" from one of the drop-down menus. "Edit" I think. I don't know about those things.

Thanks for the links. I'll look when I get a moment. I have to go and bury a fence.

Anonymous said...

Hmm . . . I'm using a Mac.

I'm currently thinking that it stands for Maddening, Annoying, Confusing. . . . .