Very Very Cold

In that temperature you don't give a monkey's what you look like - in fact I have never given a monkey's what I look like on a ski slope. I just like doing it. I like being up in the mountains, I like flying down them at high speed on two slippery planks, I like the adrenalin rush, I like the exercise, I like the fresh air, I like the views, I like the little mountain huts, I like the drinks and the food inside, I like to sit in the sunshine, I like to feel completely knackered at the end of the day and still go out for more, I like the companionship of others who have shared in your expererience, I like that no two days are ever even vaguely the same. I like it all.

In my city the sun is the *Master of the Universe* - and the heat - unbearable. A few days back the temperature was close to 40 deg. C. Summer days are ahead. Unusual heat at this time of the year- global warming - put the blame on it. But in places close to the Himalayas there is heavy snowfall - mostly in Jammu and Kashmir. By the way tomorrow I'm going to Delhi for three weeks where the weather is cool. I'll travel a lot - go to some of the hill stations. Want to enjoy my holidays. If you have not faced an Indian summer, just think about it ... (scary) Gouri [%sig%]

"By the way tomorrow I'm going to Delhi for three weeks where the weather is cool. I'll travel a lot - go to some of the hill stations. Want to enjoy my holidays." Ha... my father went to Dehli last year and got burnt to a crisp, blister badly, sitting by his hotel pool for 25 minutes. I was just looking at the temperatures and laughing. I live in the warmest part of Canada, Vancouver, and we have been having excellent weather this year with a winter average of about 6 or 7 C. That negative 23C is funny though, last year I was in Red Deer, Alberta for new years eve and the temperature dropped below negative 40C. I actually though my nose was freezing shut while we went from bar to bar. Ahhhhh weather.... Oh... I am going to be flying to Jersey in July, for my Grandmothers 70th birthday, and plan to head over to Paris. Any other destinations that anyone would highly recomend? I may head down to Niece as my Grandparents have a house in Eze.

Cam F, Can't compare Canada with India - so close to the equator. As I said earlier I'll be going to hill stations - I think foreign tourists - from cold countries ignore Indian hill stations. Delhi is very cold during the winter month's. Here we are accustomed to the heat - nature has its own way in different places. Humans adapt to the the climatic conditions they live in. Visit India during the winter months and enjoy your stay. I have a few friends in Canada. They write to me about summer in Canada. [%sig%]

Gouri - I went to Simla in 1975 and then up the Kulu Valley. I found Simla a very beautiful place - and managed to sell my bootleg whiskey (bought in Katmandu) for a tidy profit! The walking from Kulu was magnificent. The steep climb up the side of the valley was well worth it. To sit on a rock high up in the sky and watch the eagles looping beneath you was an experience I'll neve forget. We trekked for six days high into the hills and met some wonderful people. The goatherds with their huge and every smouldering bhongs, the village people who would see us coming and rush out with chai and the tribesmen who insisted on killing a sheep in our honour and having a huge two day party. It was wonderful! I also visited Ootactamund (known to one and all as Ootie) in the south and even played cricket there for an ex-pats eleven against the locals. We were well beaten! Indian hill stations are magnificent colonial hangovers and should be visited and loved by one and all - they have a very special character.

"goatherds with their huge and smouldering bhongs" Tony, Please clarify urgently, Hox [%sig%]

First time we went to Goa was in May - it was the very last week of the season so was selling cheap (£250!). Indian friends thought we were mad, and I've never been so hot in my life. Loved it.

Hox: They were what it says on the tin! These guys were so stoned they could only communicate with their goats. but they'd just wave the bhong at you as you wandered by and you took a toke or not as you felt. We were at something like 12 or 13,000 feet so the effect was greatly increased - and if we had a way to walk that day then it wasn't a good idea. However, every now and then... but we were young at the time... They were the most magnificent bhongs I'd ever seen - old and gnarled, heavily used and seemingly permanently on the go. Make of that what you will.

Ah but you are different Mr. Cook... Hox, behave yourself. I said nothing about a ski suit - aren't they nylon or something horrid? Ewww.

Lycra. While I was in La plagne I got some video footage of the womens giant slalom race. I'm setting up a website which will be called www.fitwomeninlycra.com, subscription £10 monthly. I expect to be able to retire by Christmas. [%sig%]

I had a warm week in La Plagne 3 weeks ago, only got down to minus 9. But the sparkling air effect still worked at the top, it's like gliding through a cloud of small diamonds. I had foot problems too - they tended to end up over my head. The skis must have been faulty. [%sig%]

I went to La Plagne a couple of years ago, we went to that restaurant where they serve the food on hot stones and you slide back down in a bin liner afterwards. The best bit for me was the bob sleigh, we went of the 'proper-driver- keep-yer-heads-down-sign-this-first' version rather than the driver-less one on rails, it was terrifying. I had foot problems, they wouldn't keep me upright and gave up all control to the snowboard. well there now, aren't we all just a bunch of cool cats with our fancy winter sports and our seeking of thrills. this winter I've spent the time picking up dog pooh on an industrial level in the snow and the only boarding I've done is a new ceiling which is a swine to do alone and I'm still not fit enough to do either.

Did that bin-liner thing at La Plagne last year - very hardcore on the arse. I found a friend scrabbling around in the dark afterwards having lost his wallet somewhere between the top and the bottom. He did find it but it took about 5 hours. I am not allowed to frolick in the snow this year so I am not impressed by any of your antics. Daisy is snowboarding in France then surfing in Bali. I hope he gets frostbite and the bends, which will serve him right for leaving me up to my eyeballs in packing cases and mothercare brochures.

-23!!! Bloody hell. It's about -5 here in Brighton and I feel like it's deepest Siberia - summer is like some unremembered thing - like T-shirts and sunbathing and days that last past 6.00 p.m. Not a winter person at all. LIZ

Liz - I actually felt colder in Brighton this morning as I strode purposefully down the hill to the train than I had all week in -23C. It must be something to do with not having the right clothes on, the wind or the sea air making it more moist and therefore feeling colder or something else entirely. Why do you all go to La Plagne? There are wonderful places with masses of skiing all over the Alps and the Dolomites where you don't get many Brits or Germans, where you don't end up in industrial cafes up the mountain and where they still have a real mountain feel. I won't post them all up here as it's taken 25 years of searching to find them (and I'm sure there are plenty more still to find) but if you email me then I'll set you straight (oo-er).

Went to the slopes in Colorado a couple of years back. Huge buzz. Got a great tan as well.

PAYING to fall on your arse in snow in the middle of winter, you're a set of maniacs. A bottle of Kingfisher on a balcony whilst you watch the sunset over the Indian ocean in shorts and T-shirt, listening to the hiss of the tandoor and the wail of some Hindi film playing in the kitchen ... that's the way to spend February, but not this year for us.

Well this air like a shower of diamonds has done more to persuade me that skiing might be worth a go than anything... it is one thing that i have never ever been able to fathom the attraction of... but air like a cloud of small diamonds, i would love to see.

Yeah, agree there. But the problem I would have is with all the posh people poncing about in all the latest gear...ugh!

Oh no Emma.... We will be swanning through diamond dust, full of vodka with red lippy, and we wont give a damn about how in or out our snow boots are, cos we will be in silver stilettos...

hahaha! And I bet your not jocking either.

Liana - you can't be serious about me in lippy and stillettos??? I'm a gay woman not a gay man, ffs! *pushes glasses up nose, twiddles toes inside sensible shoes*

Oh gerroff. You'll do as youre told and enjoy it. You never heard of Marlene Deitreich (sp)? If she can do it, you can.

LOL - I went to a party dressed as her once...trouble was, it was the guys that fancied me, hmph!

*Imagines Liana in silver stilettos and racing ski suit. Falls off chair*