Hair of the Luge

If you had told me 15 years ago that the best cure for a hangover was to take three small children sledging in near zero temperatures then I wouldn’t have believed you. No, really. However this is exactly what happened today after a nice dinner and a few Guinnesses last night with friends in Pau.

We went off to the local ski station, Gourette, for the first time ever, and we were pleasantly surprised at how close it was. We spent a priceless 3 euros to hire a sledge ("luge" in French) and off went Maxime…for about 20 metres that is until he nailed his first victim – a middle aged woman who had her back to him and who was pulling her small son in his sledge. I dread to think what colour her ankle will be tomorrow morning. It will also teach me to not wear running trainers in the snow; one has absolutely no ability to guide any out of control offspring because running is the one thing you can’t do in such footwear in such conditions…however I suppose I was still doing better than our Kiwi au pair Jane who turned up in a skirt and cowboy boots (that said it didn’t actually stop her from sledging with Maxime for a good 20 minutes once the incapacitated lady had been helicopter-ed off the slopes (only joking).

Overall it was a good dry (wet) run ahead of our week’s skiing at the end of the month in Cauterets. We were very quickly able to see what we were missing – suitable footwear and sun cream coming out top of the list. In fact it’s been a good weekend, indeed the whole Christmas period has been good. As I contemplate my first flight tomorrow (to London) for a long time, at the end of this festive break I have a wife who is behaving wonderfully well, a horse who is jumping extremely well, and three children who are all on form (and we’ve almost even found the next au pair to start in March – more anon no doubt…). That said, there is a part of me that’s looking forward to a week in the big smoke and a few early nights and early morning runs…