School Ski trip to Switzerland

We spent Chinese New Year in Villars, Switzerland with 28 students and 5 staff.


The snow wasn't great, you should normally be able to ski into Villars but the snow was 700m above Villars and very icy in the morning and slushy in the afternoon. Not the greatest! I cracked/bruised a rib on day 4 - nice one! I'm still grunting 3 weeks later.

Janette and Rob

They got married. Pity they look so strange. Their kids will look bloody weird.

My Mum and Dad

We went back to England at Chinese New Year and had a great time with Mum and Dad.

Dad's not 100% but seems to enjoy himself - I just hope someone eventually finds out why he lacks energy. He seems more frustrated than anything else, endless tests and new remedies for things that don't seem to be the cause of his woes. If they ever do find out what's wrong he'll live to be 200, what with all the checks he's had.

Mum's hilarious, always smiling, even when I'm being rude and impatient, and still wants to learn new things. Watching her on the Skype video camera is beyond funny.

'I'm not dressed yet' - when we can see her on the screen. Holding up informative messages when she can't get the microphone to work rather than ringing us on the telephone. Constantly making notes on everything. Seeing her reaction when she spoke to a friend on the computer was priceless though. She loved it.

Tour de l'Oisan - GR54 trek

During the summer of 2004 we spent three weeks walking the impossibly hard GR54, climbing nearly 25,000m and walking about 300km. It was the hardest trek I have ever done but full of glaciers and amazing camps.

Marriage