The Southern Alps

Just come back from a wicked break in the Southern Alps. Nipped down to near Gap (apparently NOT where they make the clothes) with Abi and Katy for a few days. It was awesome - we stayed at Katy's aunt's place which is an old place high up in the middle of nowhere that's recently been refurbished.

We tootled off down there going the scenic route going around Grenoble, slowly winding our way through the various valleys and passes before reaching our destination, some 4 hours away.

We all got rather heavily involved with the Sky TV and gin and tonics on offer (none of us have TV at home) and slept a lot and splashed about where appropriate. Abi put her skills as a masseuse to good use, we had a mini-adventure to a big hypermarket in Gap (my sort of fun!) and generally relaxed getting ready for the season.

Here's some photos.

The view from in front of the house looking at the mountains.


The garden and HOT TUB, woohoo!


The living room with accompanying very cool arched ceiling.


The girls very excitedly (and drunkly) dancing around the kitchen.


The right-hand side of the house (kitchen).


The left-hand side of the house (living room).


All in all a really good mini break. And a much-needed one as well. I was starting to go a little crazy from work and it was brilliant to get away and chill. The temperature has dropped considerably in the Chamonix valley now. The same snow has sat up higher for a few weeks and the leaves on the trees are dropping and littering the pathways around town and in the woods. Everywhere has taken on a golden hue with reds and oranges and yellows bursting from the different variety of trees. We're deep in the grip of Autumn with its kaleidescope of colours pushing their way into the visual senses.

The air is starting to smell like snow now as well. Everyone's got a slightly manic, disturbed grin tugging at the corner of their mouths in gleeful anticipation of the winter. People are starting to put skiing videos on and the winter hat collections are making an appearance around town. How cool? Very cool.

How much crap?

I'm nearly done moving my stuff out of my flat, and it's struck me that there's SO much total crap that I've bought over the years. An amazing amount of seriously shite t-shirts, books, clothes, games, toys and paperwork. But being the true geek, made up an algorithm in my head based on the frequency of use, the age of the object and the potential future usefulness in order to find out what to throw away.

This made it easy for items such as the "Party Like Pacman" tshirt below - never worn, pretty old, never going to wear it in my life time. Answer - charity shop to start some 12 yr old on their new potential lifestyle.



But what about the shocking tanks? Very cool, used pretty often, a bugger to try and convince customs that they're only a weapon when in the wrong hands, and the likelihood of using them in the future in the snow (with all it's conductive properties) relatively slim. Answer - sod it, give them to one of the kids next door after singing the little beggar's fingers in a demonstration.

All in all, it's going pretty well though. Threw out a load of suits - very therapeutic and not just a little symbolic - as well as turfing out old programming manuals for recycling and organising the paperwork accordingly (it's been filed carefully in date order in the bin). Successful day, just need to get enough contact lenses to last for several months then we're rocking.

Timescales are:
Fly to NZ on Saturday morning.
Fly around the southern hemisphere a bit.
Fly back from Singapore (leaving some members of the party there who haven't quite finished drinking) 17th January.
Fly out to Geneva Friday 19th January and head to Chamonix.
Bliss.

To all the ex-workmates who are reading this. Thanks very much. It was a hugely positive experience working with all of you. Special note to Andy who I still believe is the best problem solver I've ever come across and acted with such dignity when things were't quite so peachy. Also thanks to Kuntesh, Badjon, Duff, Chris, Bobby, Swaps, Jonny, JQ, iPatch and all the others who still make me smile thinking about them. Take it easy y'all. See you in the next life =)

Done and dusted

Last day today. Going out with a few of the boys for lunch - going to miss lots of them but my mind's already on going to New Zealand for a month and then onwards to Chamonix. Already I can feel the air of the mountains in my mind and the smell of the snow in my nostrils - weirdly I've also started speaking french in my dreams and have begun developing a taste for smelly cheese. The body seems to be readying itself for the culture change. When I stop shaving my funzone and start wearing speedos to the swimming pool, I'll know that the metamorphosis is complete.

It was great to say a blanket goodbye to everyone on Friday and seal my time in London on a positive note. It reinforces the belief that fate is aiding this move to France - everything just fits perfectly and at the end of the evening at the museum when it was time to go, it seemed right to just walk out of the main entrance with no fuss and just a genuine, happy, satisfied smile.

There's one more thing I have to do before I go. A while ago my ex lent me a book, the Celestine Prophect, which I promptly managed to lose. The book means a huge amount to her and I feel bad about misplacing it so I'm going to find it online and get a copy sent to her. It's personal to her and we shared a lot of personal moments - it's not fair to take any of those away from her without her permission.

PS
I know I said I'd post up a date re-conversion function the other day, I'm going to try to do that today.

After effects

Have been saying goodbye and going for Christmas drinks and birthday parties all of this week - ploughing headlong into the seasonal spirit and the joie de vivre. Tonight's festivities are to include the annual office christmas party - held at the Science Museum in South Kensington just around the corner from where I used to live. It's mint - I love the Science Museum and am really looking forward to squeezing in a go on the ice skating rink outside the Natural History Museum as well.

I have a nasty habit of turning into "naughty monkey" after a few cheeky beers however, and by far and away the biggest concern is doing something truly monumentually idiotic tonight. We're talking about things like trying to get in a rebuilt Gyspy Moth with a pair of swimming goggles Biggles-style shouting "Tally-ho! Hun at 3 o'clock!"; maybe even solving the age-old question of "will it hurt if i place my genitals on a plasma ball" (I'm thinking there might be some sort of jacob's ladder action between Captain Chopper and the high-voltage glass...); perhaps even trying to remove a tattoo with an industrial laser; "liberating" Scaramanga's gun from the James Bond exhibition; licking Stephenson's Rocket the possibilities for mischief are quite frankly astronomical - especially after hooning around at Mach 10.4 on the ice skating rink getting progressively more and more revved up. Nice. I better calm my ass down, I'm actually starting to bounce on this chair.

But I am really, genuinely excited. How many times in life do you get the chance to eat at the Science Museum surrounded by history and innovation. It seems really fitting to end my old life in London surrounded by technological artifacts, with the odd futuristic concept dotted in between, at the place where the future brings new, exciting oppertunity and the chance to create and craft something important and new that's going to push some boundries. I'd like to think that's the message whomever is crafting my fate, organising my karma, whatever you want to call it. It's a beautiful way to end life in London and look back at what's been achieved and at the same time see the challenges and adventures of the future dotted in between. Granted there will be a small amount of drink taken - but this time it's not a sad goodbye, it's a welcome to the future with open arms, an open heart and an open mind.

Reality check

Things are rapidly being ticked off the checklist.

1) Organise the London flat.
2) Get somewhere to live in Chamonix.
3) Find somewhere to work in Chamonix.
4) Get some immediate work (got the contract to rebuild some pub websites).
5) Move collection of thongs, leotards and hats from London to Lancashire.
6) Store the above collection of thongs and leotards not required for the mountains.
7) Stop worrying about the white stuff (woohoo!)
8) Grab a few days before flying to New Zealand to sort out presents & family stuff.
9) Ship over a load of computer gear really cheaply through the Post Office (bonus! thought there was going to be need to hire a van and drive it out there).
10) "Unhired" Rosa, my wonderful cleaner who has kept me in clean underpants for as long as I can remember.
11) Claim back some of the £888 year oyster card. I'm sorry but LTU are fuckers - pleased that they are actually giving something back for a change.
12) Find a cheap flight out to Geneva.

Current work have agreed to let me go on the 18th December, leaving drinks getting sorted, have said goodbye to some of my friends.

Jesus, it's actually happening.

A cage for the monkey

Spoke to the lovely Steph at Planet Subzero about getting somewhere sorted to live in Chamonix. Lo and behold, am all set up! Perfect.

Everything's coming together nicely and picking up pace at a good rate with more ideas for work coming into the pipeline and being discussed. Will book flight this week and start dusting off my thermal thong and the rest of the boarding gear.

For those who aren't sure where Chamonix is, here's a link to the French Google maps listing.