Skiing and a Terrible shock

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  Courchevel, Rhône-Alpes, France
Monday, February 20, 2012

21:39 I was up, breakfasted and out for 930 this morning, all set to get on the snow. Within about 2 mins of doing up my ski boots a small amount of pain set in from these foreign and unfamiliar objects on my legs. It has been 4 years since I last skied. I cracked in the skiis and went off to find the bubble up the mountain. I was certainly rusty the first few runs but soon found some modicum of ability, probably very poor but I was going downhill fairly confidently and not feeling like I was about to fall over so you can't say fairer than that. I decided to stick to green and blue runs today, mostly green it has to be said, else it would be like trying to run a marathon with no training.

As you can see from the photos, the views are incredible, there is lashings of snow and sunshine, and it's just beautiful and clear up here.
 
I skied down into courcheval 1850 and met Sarah for lunch before she had to go back to work and went for more of a ski. Even as I had started skiing I was painfully aware of the pain in my thighs followed closely by the pain in my calves. If I am able to sit down on a lift or something, when I get off I can ski quite far without stopping and then after that I need to stop every few minutes as it so painful. I did about 4 hours skiing today before I returned to the chalet for a hot bath, some moderate stretching and a lie down. 

 It was during my pre-dinner lie down that I got a phone call, I'm reluctant to answer the phone abroad as its pretty costly and it was an unknown number. The caller tried again so I answered. It was my cousin Patrick, he was very upset and this of course worried me. He told me he had some sad news, that his sister, also my cousin Catherine was in intensive care having had a brain aneurism and wouldn't be with us tomorrow. I was in utter shock. 

Such a lovely intelligent girl who isn't all that much older than me with 2 young children and all her family in south Africa, tragically cut short in the prime of life out of the blue. I am filled with utter shock and disbelief. Dinner with my chalet mates was a quiet affair for me, I was so pre-occupied thinking back on memories of her and thinking of all the grief stricken families involved I had to get out for a walk. I walked around in the cold mountain air looking at the stars that were so clear in the sky and just thinking "why?". Life is short and takes unexpected turns and this will always remind me how you must make the most of it. Something I have almost learnt myself anyway. I came skiing because I didn't want to just sit for 2 weeks in my flat, doing nothing and waiting for my job to start. I wanted to make the most of that time, and I have. I wont let life pass me by any longer if an opportunity arises.
 
I won't ever forget this day. My thoughts, prayers and love go out to my family at this terrible time.

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