Quit your day job. Go on. I dare you.

Bags are packed for a little road trip. ski gear, phone recharger, wash kit. I’m off to Morzine. Just as soon as the losers at Sanglard have finished waxing and edging my skis (I went to pick them up this morning and they’d forgotten to do them. Numpties.) It hasn’t snowed for a while and it’s likely to be quite icy - I’m going need some edges.

Feeling quite chipper about getting out of Cham for the New Year too. So, erm…. Happy New Year folks & I’ll catch up then :)

I’m taking a few days off from skiing and partying to do a bit of life-admin. Sometimes you need to look after your stuff a bit you know? So the skis are in the shop getting serviced. Wax ‘em,  edge ‘em and fill in a few dings. I picked up my PC laptop from the fixers today. The hard drive died, and although the fact that I lost all the software and info on there is a pain, on the upside I’ve got what amounts to a spanky new factory conditions laptop in the office.

The other thing that got a little attention was the van. Whilst down in Sallanches I ran it through the car wash, stuck a bit of oil and some -20C proof screen wash. I also mopped up as much water from the inside as I could, and used some preventative de-icer on the inside of all the windows  which should hopefully make the defrosting a bit quicker in the mornings. There’s still a couple of things I need to fix on it, but I’m rapidly falling in love with that big blue van. Aside from a purple turbo diesel Golf I owned a few years back, which got nicked from outside my Deptford flat, it’s starting to become my favourite vehicle I’ve ever owned.

So I’m feeling pretty on top of things. Next on the list if to file a bit more of the mail and stuff hanging about in the office and start planning my new year’s road trip. I’m going to go and ski with some friends in Morzine first and then drive over to Les Arcs for New Year to hang out with Phil and the rest of the Brighton Medical School Ski Trip he’s been organising.

I’ve been in the office all day today working on a website and listening to radio 4. In the early afternoon the news bulletin had a report at the end about a terrorist bomb in Pakistan. There weren’t many details, and the bulletin ended. Then in the next bulletin there were suddenly reports and rumours that Benazir Bhutto had been hurt in the explosion, and suddenly the wheels of the international media tumbled into motion in front of my ears. When the assassination was confirmed and suddenly a massive news story was breaking. It was breathtaking how quickly commentators were lined up, the obituary dusted off and political analysts rolled out to comment. And most impressive of all, how quickly the main news websites change to report the story in such incredible depth.

It reminds me of watching the story of the twin towers plane crashes unfold. I was in Vietnam at the time and the only channel in English on the TV was CNBC (a rolling financial news channel). To begin with the presenters were gamely trying to stick to their channel’s editorial line and talk about how the news could affect the financial markets. Then all of a sudden the tone changed and bosh - it was all ‘Attack On America’. One thing that does stick in my mind is some twonk being interviewed and assuring viewers that the best way to fight back was to ‘go out and keep buying those big ticket items’. Yeh. Go and buy a fridge. That’ll fix those pesky terrormerists.

My plans for Christmas changed a lot over the past week. I was looking forward to a very quiet, easy going Christmas hanging out with my lovely girlfriend. Unfortunately only one of those words now describes her accurately. And it’s not the word girlfriend.

So rather than making do, I decided to cancel Christmas altogether. Presents, Santa, turkey? balls to all that crap. On the other hand, consuming far too much alcohol is probably a tradition I can honour. So I’m quite surprised that seeing as I’m being such a grinch that it’s been quite a good Christmas.

Kicking off in Le Delice last night with the usual crowd getting plastered at the bar, Christmas Day started with a hangover and a drive down the valley to my friend Katy’s new place in Servoz for a big English fry-up brunch with bucks fizz with a group of 10 other no-kid-having 30 somethings. Feeling far more human I went up Les Houches for a ski with a few mates in the afternoon, got a beer in at the Vieux Luge restaurant in the woods. Not the most taxing afternoon’s skiing, but good to blow the cobwebs away.

Seeing as it’s a special occasion, I’m even going to change out of my ski gear and have a bath before dinner up at the farm. Some of the girls are making Canadian slow-roasted ham and a pretty large party seems likely.

So it’s not all bad. But on the other hand….. plan A would still have been my first choice.