Malham

Elliot and Simon joined the Axiologik walking group on a walk over in Malham yesterday. We were prepared for a very rainy day and were NOT prepared for the glorious sunshine that we actually got…

It was a terrifically sunny day, culminating in a few hours in a lovely pub in Malham village where we all realised the sunburn would be very real later….

Whernside Walk

Elliot and dad went to the dales (Ribblehead) with some of dad’s work friends first thing this morning and set out on a walk up (and down) the Whernside mountain (one of the Yorkshire. 3 peaks).

It was 8 miles of pretty tough terrain in the cold and wet (misty rather than full on raining).

We completed it in just under 3.5 hours and then enjoyed 3 hours in the pub for a terrific pub lunch and a few cheeky beers.

Don’t think Elliot will join us for more of them and certainly not for the full 3 peaks but we are both delighted to have accomplished this one for now 🙂

Skiing done – now onto real work :-)

Daddy has managed to get a few runs on the slopes in without damaging himself thankfully 🙂

He had a ski lesson on Friday morning with 7 of his new colleagues in the beginner section of the Titlis mountain – it was SO much better on the real slopes than in the indoor ski centre in Castleford. In fairness Sepp (the instructor) had the group doing the same things that took almost 2 hours indoors in just 25 minutes 🙂

In the afternoon we had planned on going to a different part of the mountain (under the advice of our instructor) however, one of daddy’s new colleagues (finance guy from the UK called Andy) got chatting to a different instructor who told us that this was a bad idea as there was little snow in the area in question, but all was OK as she was going down a blue run close by and that we could go with her – great stuff. However a short time later it became apparent that she was expecting payment for her advice (in the tune of 180 CHF plus 40CHF per person) so rather rapidly both the yorkshireman and the finance guy backed out and decided to go it alone. Sadly the blue run had a closed section that meant we had to go down a red section which was actually pretty frightening as we were negotiating it all very cautiously while others were shooting past us at great speed 🙁 Andy sadly fell, his ski did not come off and he ended up tearing two ligaments in his left knee = game over for him. He needed stretchering off the slopes with daddy in tow to help ensure that he got everything that he needed (including of course the all important liquid pain killers in the bar afterwards.

The following day we went out with a different ski buddy since he had broken the first one :-(. We went out to the Brunni section that had a nice looking long blue run from reasonably high up the mountain that appears to run through the trees. As we were on our way up there were some skiers heading down an area that appeared off piste with about 1ft to 2 ft of powder – it looked sensational watching these guys whip through it – daddy made the comment that one day he would love to be able to have the skills to ski in such circumstances. 10 minutes later that request became reality as the blue run had simply had NOBODY ski down it so once we got through the trees, we rapidly found that we were into 2ft of powder. It was HARD work and after just two runs through it we were done – legs were absolutely worn out and the bar was calling. Just one fall took place thankfully although it was a corker – head first into a just over 2ft drift – both skis came off and were left buried 1 foot under the surface (took a few minutes to find them) – legs kicking in the air with head under the surface with the biggest belly laugh as daddy went in 🙂

The apres ski was fun although a 1 hour power sleep was required before heading out to an unsanctioned curry house with 10 other folks from around the company – a great night with really nice folks.

What a FANTASTIC introduction to the business – lucky bugger !!

Daddy’s New Job

Daddy starts his new job today with a flight from London’s Heathrow Airport out to Zurich in Switzerland – the company he is joining (aptly named Snow Software) are taking the entire business on a 3 day Ski trip to Engleberg in Switzerland. How lucky is that?

Anyway, this will be a wonderful opportunity for daddy to meet as many of the people that he will be working with as he can in a short space of time so he is going to be super busy for the next few days.

Then on Sunday he flies on to Stockholm (Sweden) to start the job properly. He will be based from our home office but will be spending 50% of his time in Stockholm or 100% for the first 6 weeks or so.

Big changes at home as the family have got used to daddy being around most of the time.

Good luck daddy

XX

Lonnnnnng journey home for daddy

Daddy got on the 7:52 train from London Kings Cross to Wakefield Kirkgate with a scheduled arrival of 9:50PM, but tonight sadly there has been an accident just South of Doncaster where a section of the overhead power cable has come down (onto a rain and apparently peeling a section of its roof off in the process 🙁 ) and rendered all northbound trains defunct.

The train is likely to be more than three hours delayed and the train has run dry….

At least it is a day off tomorrow so Costa can come to the rescue with some drugs to keep daddy awake – also known as two large Americanos please 🙂

3:30am was the final arrival time back at ForkHall – a whole 5 hours late 🙁