today i got the keys for this place:

which is ace. there will be 5 of us living in 3 rooms. a dutch guy, spanish guy, english girl, englidh guy and myself. there’s a super living area,a nd it even has a washing machine, oooooh the luxury!

we also have a balcony with this view:

i had another interview for a job, which i’d really really like to get, so finger’s crossed.

i skiied again, and they skis felt super different, but after an hour or so, i got used to them and much preferred these ones.

there’s bingo tonight, i hope some people wanna go!!!

harriet in a ski boot box:

ciao for now!

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i’ve been skiing today, demoing skis, and it was great fun, but ssooooo much more tiring than snowboarding.

they were huge 185cm and wide for powder, twin-tips. and different.

i’ll try some different skis another day.

at the weekend we had at least a meter of snow, so things are looking good for the winter.

so tuesday was nicola’s birthday, which was fun.
monday i snuck out and drive to chamonix, which was fun considering they had barely plowed the road, and i couldn’t work out how to fit my chains, but the car works fine in the snow.

driving from verbier to chamonix in the snow

so in the morning we had croissants and champagne. nic went for lunch with her boss in bosses restaurant with the kids she looks after.

in the evening we had a treasure hunt for nic, and when she came back in cold and snowy there was big fondue! so lots of merry fun.

appartment hunting is a little like a rollercoaster. i went to visit the flat with the couple, and the girl said no way she wanted to live there, and they didn’t have the cash up front anyway.
so today i now have the descion over who gets to stay there, as there is lots of interest. it had been a trouble to get half the season’s rent up front for people, but now there are so many people so desperate that there’s no problem.

job wise, i keep getting optimistic responses, but no jobs have yet materialised.

i am ACHEY!

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so ts now super dark, and seems to be most of the day.
it’s supposed to have been snowing a fair amount, yet all we get is drizzle and cloud.

nic and i have our first french lesson today. there was an aussie there too. it’s not a bad price, and the teacher lady is cool.
we’ll probably be taking these twice a week for 20 weeks, so come on the ability to finally chat up a foreign girl!

oh yeh, i went snowboarding sunday!!!! it was ace, and my body is still aching. the lifts are only open at the weekends. the winter has begun!

hot!

i tried a snowboard, and will keep on demoing boards to find one more appropriate to the big mountains.

the job hunt is slow, as is the house hunt.

a photo i took from the bottom of the mountain the other day:

evening

so tomorrow the car is going to the garage to have the block box recorder fitted for the insurance company.
so nic and i can have a good swim and sauna, and maybe food too.

also, i have started copying all of my dvd’s to my hard drives, so that i can carry my dvd collection without a huge cd wallet, it’s taking time, but no rush. when i’m done i will sendf the dvd’s back to teh uk to be stored. the beginning of the end of physical media.

last thing, i made a great paella last night, and everybody even said they loved it, without teh need to threaten them!

me n me baked rice

also i began to use adobe lightroom 2 today. i think it may avoid the necessity to use photoshop so much. the program will allow me to organise photos, make small modifications. i’m liking it so far!! supposedly i can upload my pics directly to the net.

what else, i’m going to try to convert all of my camera’s raw files to .dng, as this will hopefully become de-facto, and wont become out dated as raw is already.

so now i have downgraded from my slr to my compact, and from photoshop to lightroom. easier to use and with plenty of usefulness.

ciao ciao for now.

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so mr mac is repaired, and for no charge. the logic board was broken, and would have cost a lot if i hadn’t the extended warranty, so i’m very glad i forked out the extra £250 for it!

and then:

day 8 in switzerland and i have totally lost the ability to semi touch-type, due to getting used to toto’s french mac.

i have been job hunting in leysin and verbier, and even applied for a job in zermatt. the general response is that it is too early to hire, being that people are waiting for whether people from the previous winter return, and if they don’t then the jobs are open. so i will continue to hand out my CV, and hope.

we’ve gone from 30cm of snow in the town here to 0, but its early yet and the lifts open tomorrow, so the town will begin to get lively.

oh and i need to start looking for a home!

other than that i’ve been getting my car winter ready with winter tyres and snow chains.

i’ve also had loads of trouble trying to replace the car stereo. the audi unit has a cd player and a cassette player. the speakers are great, but i desired something up to date. so i bought a stereo with usb and bluetooth. but…..getting a facia to house a standard stereo has turned out to be a night mare. apparently audi only used the stereo i have for 9 months, and only in this car. the local audi garage suggested i scour scrap heaps. somebody in a car stereo shop in the uk suggested i carve something from a piece of mdf, and he was the most optimistic of all of the people i have spoken to!