Friday 5th February

What are we all supposed to make of this weather? It changes as much as a woman changes her mind. (Or so it’s said.)

Is it a one, two or three vest day or do we go mad and not wear one at all?…… Decisions, decisions.

As I sit here and write the sun is shining but it is snowing at the same time. In fact only a couple of days ago I was skiing in Formiguères with a friend and as we turned to get off the Poma there was the most beautiful “snowbow” the complete arc of a rainbow but made up of tiny snow crystals. Magic is everywhere if only we stop for a moment to see it.

I did wonder how many snowboarders would have seen it. None I would imagine. The speed these guys go is incredible especially when their knees look as though they are tied together.

Surely I can’t be the only one who has seen those odd looking people. They tend to have very long bodies and extremely short legs. The crutch of their trousers is barely above their ankles and yet they hurtle down the slopes without any real sign of a problem. Yet if I were to put an elastic band around my knees or sewed up my pants so they were joined to the knee I am sure I would fall flat on my face.

I understand it is in the name of fashion but what are they going to think when they see photos of themselves in twenty years time?

I always wanted to look like Dusty Springfield and would spend ages backcombing my hair and “doing” the Dusty thing with purple eye shadow and black eyeliner, only to be told by my father to go and wash “that gunk” off my face before I set foot out the door. I did escape once or twice and now shudder to think what I looked like. But at least my trousers weren’t sewn together.

It’s a well known fact that the weather in the mountains can change in minutes because since I started writing this Mumble, the sun has vanished and the cloud is down and it is snowing heavily again. Hmmmm.

I know through reading the forum chat that some people are looking at getting up here on the Yellow Train, Something that should be taken into account is the distance from the train to the point you want to visit. For example the walk from the station to St Thomas le Bain is a good 45 minutes and Font Romeu where the train station is set below the town and again is about 45 minutes to the centre and then a lift up to the skiing. A killer if you are carrying all your gear. Bear it in mind that not all the stations are situated next to the place to which you are going.

Lil is great company and a complete fool. Still a star in the village and children flock to speak to her. I have been wondering why people think they are vicious when guarding flocks of sheep. Well, I heard from a man who used to have a Pyreneen Mountain dog, that when they are puppies they are wrapped in a sheepskin and then beaten with a stick to make them aggressive. How awful is that? Maybe someone knows different. I would like to know. I find it quite distressing that these beautiful dogs are treated this way. OK I know tradition is tradition and all that and far be it for me to tell a shepherd he is being cruel when it is his livelihood but I do find it a difficult thing to comprehend.

Well my Lil isn’t going to get treated like that, although when I found that she had eaten the cushion off my settee this morning………..!!!!!!!!!

Must go now and sort out the washing…….Yuk

So until the next time……….