Tuesday 3 March 2009

How to prepare for the slopes. Or perhaps not.

1. Fail to think about kids' ski stuff until just after February half term. Discover that all shops, websites and other purveyors have sold out. Even trusty John Lewis is now full of swimsuits, shorts and t-shirts, with not a winter sock or thermal vest to be found, despite it still being mid February. Luckily borrow ski gear from kind sister in law, and buy Littleboy 2 cute, but ridiculously expensive, snowsuit online.

2. In similar vein, fail to find Littleboy 2 any suitable snowboots. All shoe shops now into sandals and crocs. Track down swanky-looking ski shop in Chelsea that does still have some in stock, but once they have been fetched from depths of shop by assistant, realise that the cheapest pair is £40. As Littleboy 2's shoe size changes every three months, baulk at this price, and sneak out with the excuse that the recipient is asleep in his pram and you'll 'come back'. Decide that he will have to make do with £2 wellies from charity shop and thick socks.

3. Remember that you don't have any suitable footwear for snow yourself (old suede boots, worn in last month's snow, were pathetically unsuitable). In panic mode, buy last pair of bargain boots from local shoe shop. Get them home and realise they are plasticky and incredibly SHINY. Even The Doctor comments on how SHINY they are. However, they turn out to be very comfortable, so try to forget about sartorial disaster.

4. Belatedly try on own ski wear, stuffed away in a cardboard box. Discover that slinky black salopettes, purchased in 2002, still just about do up, but realise it would be like skiing in a corset. Resign yourself to wearing ugly but practical pair bought post-maternity in 2005.

5. Discover brand new Salomon gloves which your husband tells you are yours, although you have no memory whatsoever of having bought them on your last ski holiday in 2005. This is mildly worrying.

6. Find very old pair of ski sunglasses but dimly remember some far nicer ones. These are nowhere to be found. In desperation, look on computer at photos of yourself on last two ski-ing trips. Aha! They they are in 2003, for sure. But, in 2005, you are only pictured wearing goggles. Whether this was due to generally freezing and snowy weather, or whether you had lost decent glasses in the interim, you cannot remember. Clearly, memory is going.

7. In attempt to prepare Littleboy 1 for skiing lessons, force him to sit down and watch Ski Sunday. Sigh as he leaves room after five minutes to play with his sticker book.

8. Book Eurotunnel for three hours after Littleboy 1's swimming lesson, which you don't really want him to miss as have already forfeited several due to chicken pox. Resign yourself to mad dash to the Channel afterwards, with wet swimming trunks on back seat.

9. Agree to husband's plan to drive through the night, as this is when the children will be asleep. Then realise you are going out to dinner the night before. Not wanting to be tired/hungover for the big journey, both jump in with generous and unprecedented offers to drive home from dinner party.

10. Look at snow report and see that it's snowing this week in the Alps. Start looking forward to fresh snow, vin chaud and mountains. And getting away from the military campaign of balancing work, kids and moving home that your life seems to have become....

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you tried tkmax?

Fourdownmumtogo said...

So jealous - missed skiing for the first year since I started going this year thanks to twins arrival. If you still need snowboots I have two pairs from the boys you can borrow - I can get them sent out if you think they will arrive in time. Let me know.

Potty Mummy said...

I would be sympathetic NVG. I WOULD. But I'm too JEALOUS, dammit!

Have a wonderful time x

Frog in the Field said...

Have a great time...don't break anything otherwise it'll be a bugger moving then!

Bee said...

Any chance that you can make it down to Millet's in Newbury? I happened to notice that all ski wear is 70% off out here in the boonies.

Your ski pant bit made me laugh. We just went for our once-every-five-year ski trip, and when I tried on my black shiny s-pets from 1999 I realized that they resembled sausage casing. I wore my husband's baggy pants instead; while comfortable, they were hideous.

Have fun!

Ha Ha!! word verification is hipskne (another word for tight ski pants, I guess)

Iota said...

Have a great trip.

My word verification is votherds, which is pretty close to goatherds - an Alpine theme at least.

Mutter said...

Oddly enough Stanley Market appears to stock kids' ski wear pretty much all year round. Not much use I guess. Have fun!

Waffle said...

My ski trousers (bought at craziness induced 7 stone) kept popping open halfway down hills. It was terrible. But I think you gathered that.

It will be wonderful. Apart from the logistics. Enjoy.

nappy valley girl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
nappy valley girl said...

Vic - funnily enough a friend also recommended that the other day. Wish I'd known about it before.

Urs - will be thinking of you and the lovely twins, maybe when they are all a bit older we can all go together - all 10 of us, gulp!

PM - Thanks, I am sure we will, apart from anything else I really do need a holiday. (But I do seem to be making everyone jealous - perhaps I should have kept quiet about it!)

Frog - God forbid! As you say, that would be a disaster....

Bee - funnily enough, we spend a fair amount of time near Newbury, as my husband's family have a cottage in the Berkshire Downs. But I won't be making it down there this week. Maybe I'll bump into you one day though!

Iota - hopefully I will not be seeing too many goatherds - that would mean the snow had melted!

Wife in HK - Stanley Market certainly used to have EVERYTHING. We used to get our all winter woollies, anoraks, jeans and boots there, as well as swimsuits and t-shirts.

Jaywalker - I used to own another pair which had dodgy poppers, and they were always flying open at inappropriate moments - usually on drag lifts where I was so terrified of letting go that I couldn't do them up again until the top!

Expat mum said...

I bet when you get there all the shops have their ski wear at ridiculously low prices. Always happens to me but you can never risk it can you.
Break a leg!

Anonymous said...

Have a great time. I am sooooooo jealous. We may get snow again here but it's hardly the same!

nappy valley girl said...

Expat Mum - they probably will (although, with the dire pound to Euro exchange rate, they will still be expensive sadly). If it was just for me, I would definitely wait - however not sure how much stuff for four year olds they will have left....

Rosie - Snow just isn't the same without mountains and vin chaud. Still, it was fun while it lasted.

Bee said...

If you are in Berkshire let me know and I will meet you for a coffee. We can talk about your forthcoming expat life in America!

(I'm a native Texan -- married to a Brit.)

Anonymous said...

Will be Fabulous! So jealous - have a great time!
x

Cassandra said...

Really liked the thing about the sticker book at number 7 - reassuring that none of them have long attention spans...

TheOnlineStylist said...

Have an amazing time! A skiing trip with two small kids - you are my hero!! Look forward to hearing about it.

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Mutter said...

Hey NVG! Long skiing holiday.. You alright?

nappy valley girl said...

Hello everyone

Yes, we are all back in one piece. Will post about it all once I make some inroads into my sea of washing!

Mel said...

Glad you are all back safe and sound, your pose made me smile and gave me a good list for when I do my own packing to visit the mouse, 1 day after the summer break up!