So it's an offical powder day which means riding. Kev, myself and a load of the girls went up Les Houches, the ski area next one down from Chamonix in the valley. Kev and I split from the girls early (who ended up having an extremely eventful day with people getting hit by pommels and hiking for an hour up a ski slope after being unable to negotiate the draglift!).
Kev and I however had an awesome day. We cut fresh tracks on pretty much everything we rode, even laying the first lines down the mountain a couple of times. Such a special feeling - especially seeing that no-one else had followed the lines we chose even at the end of the day. The pow wasn't too deep - a foot or so, but padded up in the leeward sides of ridges and gullies and deep enough to really send up showers of snow after long, arcing powder turns. We dropped next to one of the lifts and caught some really nice drop-offs - tapping the top of the bushes with the board in mid-air sending sparks of snow crystals from the branches falling to the floor. The run was so good that we tried it again choosing different lines. I dropped a series of pillows of powder sitting on top of a steep section covered with small bushes, board in a straight line, just bouncing down off the soft snow. Immediately after that it bowled out next to a lift and came screaming through at mach 9 sending a massive curtain of snow 12 feet in the air in a big powder carve then hit the lip of a roller and pulled a beautiful tweaked stalefish shifty. Some guys on the lift started whooping and cheering and shouting "Get In!" so kind of had that embarrassed, pleased feeling which lingered throughout the day.
It's weird - snowboarding's like this personal journey. Everything you do is to make yourself happy, but when people give positive acknowledgement of your riding, that's really cool. Anyway, it's just great to ride with guys like Kev, who push you to ride better and enjoy riding for what it is - not the massive jumps, nor the racing but just using whatever is on the mountain to create the most interesting and fulfilling way down .
So it's all coming together - work is picking up nicely, the snow's fallen and we're riding powder today which will be improved by the snow falling as I type. Managed to speak to the family this morning which is always nice. Technically my riding's going well with spins being laid down on a daily basis as well as good powder technique and some really nice jumps and jibs. Really looking forward to riding with friends coming out as well to go for a drink and a slide together.
Feeling the love today.
x
Les Houches
Soooo. After it dumped down about 30cm of new snow 4 days ago I've ridden pretty heavily during the day and worked in the afternoons and evenings. It's a pretty good combination and it looks like the computers that were sent over have arrived and need to be picked up meaning the work level can be stepped up another notch. The new business team sat down the other day and started working out the plan for the immediate future and it looks mint. We do compliment each other and there's some really good ideas bouncing around to problems that have arisen. It feels confident and good and to have the confidence in the other guys is a great thing and a huge support. Everything is moulding together nd I'd guess that in a weeks time there's going to be a busy office humming with business being done. Awesome.
Luckily I've managed to squeeze in a fair bit of riding the fresh snow that's fallen and met up with a load of really good lads and ladies who all coexist in our communal chalet very well It's centrally placed with easy access to the ski buses and the supermarket and the office. It's a beauiful old chalet and as chance would have it, I've already ridden with one of the guys who lives here as well - it's great to know someone here and we've hit it off nicely forming a solid friendship and riding relationship.
I'm stoked to have hit the ground running with the riding too. Already have started spinning, something that I nearly always have to work up to. It's become more natural and easier the older I've gotten and have started to lay down a few floated backside 180's and even squeezed out a little 360. We've built a rail to session in our driveway and even got a little kicker there as well. Heaven.
So yesterday went up to Le Tour at the top of the Chamonix valley and rode a load of the gullies and chutes there with a few of the boys. We cut some fresh tracks after climbing the Tete de Balme dropping into the face there before funneling down into the large chute below using the windlip to huck a few nice jumps off. One of the lads took his camera so I'll post up photos soon.
So it's all looking good. The guys I'm working with are very good. The guys I'm riding with are very good. The sun is shining and everything's looking smooth and positive for the future. The only blip has been one of the boys in the chalet I rode the Grands Montets mountain with on Tuesday had a bit of a sketch at Brevant and got choppered off one of the faces there after breaking 3 bones in his back hitting a rock band. Still they're only minor bones and he should be back up and running in a month or so. I hope he heals up well and it's a timely reminder not to piss about here, keep your senses and not make any silly decisions.
Sunday's a day of rest so tomorrow am going back up to Le Tour and going to shape a few kickers in the backcountry with some of the boys and session them. Pics to follow. Am missing a load of guys from the UK, I really wish they could be here and see all this and it would be great to see them all. I've talked to a few about coming out and lots seem very keen. I look forward to riding with them and catching up with them and hope they're all doing well. Take it easy guys, Narg sends love to you all.
x
So it's coming up to New Year, I've finally moved on from London and starting life elsewhere and it feels good. Feeling deeply positive and happier than for many months now. Anxiety gone replaced only with an open heart and an open mind. Am re-reading Douglas Coupland's book JPod which is geek fiction and frankly a must-read for any computer nerd, in it the characters write an eBay entry to sell themselves. In this spirit and looking forward to the future and the loves and laughs it may hold, I include my offering below.
Narg Boy Toy! VGC, energetic, fun, loyal and adventurous
Item number: 0011001110
Starting bid: $1.00
Buy it now price: $1,000,000.00
Current bid: $13.00
Start time: April 13th 1976 10:30
End time: 29 years, 5 days, 11 months 10 hours 4 minutes and 32 seconds (approx)
Ships to: Anywhere overseas
History: 5 bids
High bidder: theskank56 (12)
Seller: narg
Item specifics:
Condition - used (but good for its age)
Description:
You have the amazing oppertunity to purchase your own boy toy! Standard features include...
- workable head, legs and feet (one ankle slightly limited movement due to avoidable accident a few years ago)
- several scars (including many from maintenance surgery and rough use by previous owners)
- adventurous spirit
- ability to mould body according to diet and exercise in accordance with new owners taste
- fun, kind, energetic and loyal
- comes with multilingual plug-in adapter
- one previous long-term owner, several short term leases
- good cook and will happily provide funding for cleaner
This is a fantastic oppertunity - don't miss out! Bid on the Narg toy today and you too could get a companion for life who will love unconditionally and will smile and laugh with you.
BUY IT NOW!Feel free to email/post your own adverts!
Take care everyone out there in the internet ether. I wish you all reach your dreams in 2007.
Spent the first day back in Lancashire. It's been beautiful - a clear blue summer's day next to the sea. Have met up with old friends, played a few games of snooker at the Lytham Yacht Club, been out for dinner, had a few drinks and generally done a few pre-crimbo jobs.It's mint up here, all that clear blue sky and healthy air. Even saw a fucking London black cab driving down the road. Had an automatic reflex to hail it and tell the driver to "go past a cash machine and a favoured take-away". Thank Christ I didn't because up here a take-away is generally some form of raw vegetable stolen from a field and the cash machine - well let's just say that it involves removing bartering material from a cow's arse manually. Lovely.Going to see the titular head of the family tomorrow. Grandma. Everyone else of that generation has kicked the bucket and frankly she's a frightening woman. She still scary as hell now and I'm 30. I'm not being a beaver - she's got eyes like superman and tongue that leaves scars if she hears anything out of line. I bought her a "black mamba double-headed love length" for her christmas present. A change to something more useful is probably in order to reduce the potential for getting Narg's botty whipped.
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.PSI know I said I'd post up a date re-conversion function the other day, I'm going to try to do that today.
Have been laid up in bed ill yesterday and today. Got man flu. Hence have been living off lucozade and dvd's - notably crappy romantic comedies. My lovely housemate procured some of the most meaningless film to gush forth from the window of knowledge and rather worryingly have enjoyed much of it. In fact, there's a few tips and tricks left in there to the wooers and wooees - limited notes below.Observations of successful courting strategies:Knock the person you are courting clean out.Saw this in Hitch amongst others, it appears to be a favoured strategy generally. In fact causing some sort of physical distress seems to be a really good idea as the target will inevitably forgive and forget. I'd guess that this could be a precursor to domestic violence at some stage in the future but all the other tell-tale signs seem to get swept under the carpet. On the plus side tho, I do like sporty, adventurous girls and so counting the recovery time may well certainly lend itself to helping "weed out the minnows" when looking for Mrs Narg.Sleep with someone else when drunk/vulnerable/drunk & vulnerable.A little more emotionally charged than the physical aspect of above. Plus the sex is inevitably never as good with the third party. They are always cast aside at a later stage for the main characters to reunite, but it would certainly make it a more difficult decision for the hero/heroine to go back to their main partner if the third party had introduced a bucket of soapy frogs into a lively bedroom encounter. There's a lingering feeling that the potential Mrs Narg might be put off by the combination of Imperial Leather and amphibians however so this one's going to be put on the "maybe" pile.Don't buy flowers/chocolates.It's gonna take waaay more than that apparently. Save your money. The guy with the private jet inevitably has a girl at some point - that should speak volumes for the value of money. I'm hoping that Mrs Narg will prefer flowers over jets - preferably a wild flower on the heather highlands in the middle of Scotland to an EasyJet flight to Magaluf at least.Be really attractive.No seriously it helps a lot. Boy next door look seems to work very well. The investment banker in a suit is almost always the bad guy (so why do virtually all girls like men in suits?) whereas the guy in the jeans and shirt ultimately always gets the girl (and later sponsorship from Gap). However an underlying sense of style and buckets of confidence also feature into this quite heavily. There's 30% off at Gap at the moment, so Mrs Narg will be happy. Might even have a shave on our wedding day to really smarten up.I guess that despite all the jokes and whatnot mentioned above - the only thing you can do is open up enough to someone else for them to love you for who you are. It's happened once before to me and it was all I could do to stop standing on top of everything and shouting it across the land. The most exciting, adventurous, happy, sharing, adrenaline filled, emotional trip ever. Once she fell in love with the mountains and snowboarding too, it was like the air had been filled with crystals everywhere you looked.The unequivocal love of the mountains is one of the reasons for going to the France. Decisions become easier with less clutter and distraction (ie London), and life is much more pure both spiritually and physically. The interim stalling period to get out there is almost unbearable - waiting to be able to get stuck into programming at the foot of the Aiguille du Midi in the high clean air after a few hours riding the mountain in the early morning each day. This love for the mountains is unconditional, much like the love of the past. The chance to programme, to ride, to enjoy the mountains and to have a fulfilling life is too much to walk away from. I guess if I meet Mrs Narg out there, then the chance to follow my dream and have it merge with someone elses. Well that would just be too cool.
