Happy New Year (did we miss it?)

Happy New Year to you all,

It's not quite here yet - tis early New Years eve (although we only realised it was New Year's Eve at about 4pm today!). It'll be highly surprising if either of us make it to midnight, so I like to think of myself still being on British time today - that way it's already 2008 as I write this and I can go to be with a clear, non curmudgeon conscience.

Christmas went well, the early morning Christmas ski was lovely. Rather than head to Peter Lougheed Park, we mosied on up to Canmore and skied a couple of hours along Goat Creek. Brina, in all her wisdom thought that just because she'd got new warm socks for Christmas that she only needed sandals...

Whilst I was content to flaunt my 'Manly' chocolate - you've gotta love Yorkie Bars! English chocky on a Christmas morn' is such a treat - one of the few things Blighty still gets right these days!

Even the sun managed to make an appearance...

And what better surroundings to get the festive feel....
And it's off into the trees.....

Keeping on track....
And for the obligatory 'lovey duvvy' Chrimbo shot...
That's somewhat of a picture fest. The rest of Christmas day was spent tucking into Turkey washed down with Guinness at the neighbour's house. Since then Brina has ended her reign as the Coffee Queen, we've skied a couple of times, and have been fighting the flu for the past 2 days (having stayed up until the unearthly hours of 11.30pm 2 nights ago for a curry with a couple of Brits who've moved into Cochrane - we're blaming the late night which is why I'm not optimistic about seeing in the New Year tonight - it's just another day).

But here's wishing you all a Happy New Year and looking forward to seeing you all (not at the same time) in 2008.

Humming Auld Lang Syne with as much enthusiasm as possible,

See you next year,

S&S.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all (or "Happy Holidays" for the politically correct/insane).
As promised in the last post I saved my festive cheer for today.... And there it was, hope you didn't miss it! The whole "Happy Holidays" nonsense really gets on my nerves - what's offensive about Christmas?!? - Even if don't believe in Christ or Mass then surely your beliefs are strong enough to indulge the Santa loving fraternity (Santa was one of the three wise men right?!?). The servers in Starbucks aren't meant to wish their customers "Merry Christmas", Christmas Trees are now only to be referred to as Holiday Trees!! - The only trees I want to see on holiday have palms and coconuts, stretching down white sandy beaches! The height of this PC absurdity stretches beyonds the realms of North America. The Brits banned hot cross buns at Easter time and Nativity plays in Primary schools are a big no no - wouldn't like to subject anybody of another ethnic descent to a different culture. But the most surprising addition to getting involved in the PC craze is Australia - the most chauvinistic, beer swilling, piss taking, not quite in the modern world kind of society, you could imagine (all in a wonderfully positive way, by the way!), and they're banning Santa from saying "Ho, Ho, Ho". Apparently it can lead to great uncertainty amongst the children sitting on his lap thinking that he is pointing out three hookers stood in line!

Well that little diatribe took me by surprise, I was only wanting to wish you all Merry Christmas (oops, there I go again with that festive cheer). Brina and I are off on our Christmas morning ski tomorrow - hot chocolate, Cadburys and croissants at the ready. Then around to the neighbours for Turkey and Guinness into the evening.
Got the first day at Sunshine in with Brad yesterday - snow was good, rusty skills were swiftly ironed out by both parties for much fun dashing through the trees, the piccie above almost illustrates the airbourne capabilities of Brad's skis - didn't really stop all day and the legs feel it today (I forgot that my bike legs don't transfer so easily to snowboarding). The only snag of the day was a bit of flat light which made for that terrifyingly hilarious sensation of sometimes not actually realising which way you're moving - up, down or arse over tit. Good to be back into the mix of winter though - still trying to accept the chilly Canadian temps (my blood refuses to believe that it isn't summer any more!).

So here's wishing you all a wonderful Christmas,

Happy Holidays,

S&S.

p.s: Here's a piccie of two foreigners trying to pretend it's not too bloody freezing sat on the chairlift!

Slacker!

Well hello all,
This is the first time in a week that I've had the computer cranked up at home - the dark evenings have been slipping by without a hint of feeding the hamster who turns the wheels which powers our ever decrepit hp laptop. I would attempt to update the blog at work but fear at having previous, very incriminating posts read by administration - seeing as though my teaching certification still holds by a thread, it's probably best I merely while away the school day surfing general trash and soft porn on the Internet rather than making snide remarks about my wonderful employers (if you're reading this work folks, the porn thing is obviously a joke!!!) - note to self to remember to delete computer history at work tomorrow!
Enough of such nonsensical babble - what's been going on in Cochrane? Well, not a great deal! Thankfully the school holidays begin tomorrow, Brad and I are off to drown in Sunshine's metres of powder with which it has been blessed this week, Brina is closing up shop at Starbucks pretty soon (much to her relief), and with the thought that tomorrow is the shortest day a light panic has set in that I've not really applied myself as much as possible to the winter thus far - but alas, seeing as though it runs through to May we can still make the most of it!
Evenings have been whiled away cycling, biking and riding.
I've no piccies but will upload a bunch on Sunday from Sunshine, and Brina and I have got the usual Christmas morning ski all planned so we'll get a good few shots to Blog up then too (I'll make up for being a slacker over this past week!).
I'll wish you all a Merry Christmas in the next post,
In the meantime be good and expect the Christmas cards we haven't sent yet to arrive in June 2008.
Have a wonderfully light deprived winter solstice,
Crank up the heaters,
S&S.

Where did that week go?

So another week slips by without much notice being taken of what happens in those dull days from Monday to Friday. Friday evening saw a beverage or two make for some wobbly sideways walking - not a good comination when the wife then proceeds to instruct you that it's time for Christmas shopping in the Mall. Desperately fighting a Guiness fuelled giddy drunken head, the best I could do was to put all of my efforts into pedestrian avoidance - more than once did I whack into somebody's shopping bag with my errant, Bambi like, alcoholic legs (looks of annoyance were welcome - the look of terror from an old biddy thinking I was a mugger about to take off with her purse, was a little more embarassing). Needless to say shopping was not overly productive, although I was informed in the morning that I'd purchased a new pair of jeans and a couple of shirts - as well as Brina's christmas present (I did? I asked myself, frantically trying to recall what the hell I'd bought her and more importantly, where the heck I'd now put it!!!). At least the weekend was a little more rememerable than the week.

Brina and I headed out to Banff on Saturday to ski the Spray River Loop, a nice little shuffle on the skis for a couple of hours through fresh, crisp snow. It was still rather chilly (we saw a warm day today however, high of minus 5 and it really was a welcome relief - felt almost tropical), although we didn't hit the trail until midday when the sun was dropping behind the western peaks. There weren't many people out, and some thoughtful soul had parked a picnic bench at the midway point of the trail in an ideal spot for hot tea and hobnobs!Even the air looks blue in the photo above (can't believe the river behind isn't all iced up though - seeing as though Jumping Pound Creek in Cochrane hasn't melted for two weeks and has been a resident ice rink for the local kids every night).

The ski loop was rather picturesque as it came out right at the Banff Springs - although the golf course which you ski over doesn't look too playable in December.

Ooops - I inadvertently added two piccies of that above, and still I have not figured out how to remove photos from a post once they've been added!

The final shot here is from Banff Ave. They've been digging it up all summer to put drains and the like in, and nothing has changed drastically - albeit the sidewalk (yikes, that sounds like American talk, I meant to say "footpath" or "pavement") is a little wider. I look forward to the day the entire street becomes pedestrianised.

So that was Saturday. Sunday was left open for a day in the back country with Bradley USA. Fortunately it was decided that avalanche conditions were far less than favourable (ridiculously unstable to be frank) and a day on the windtrainer was called for. An avalanche killed two guys in the place where we'd talked about heading to on the weekend - Note: It's only dicking around in the snow on a board, there's always next time, and I think we'll be hanging on for "super safe" conditions to be issued before we get too carried away. Grim note to end on...
Anyway, hoping to twist the finale of this post onto a more positive theme, I wish you all much happiness in the days leading up to Santa's delivery day. I'd best be off to search around and see if I can find what I supposedly bought Brina for Christmas.
Big pre Christmas bear hugs to you all,
S&S.

Now We're Talking!

At last, the ball busting, brain freezing - Oh I forgot how painfully cold this can be - winter has arrived in earnest. We haven't seen temperatures pop much above minus 10 in the past couple weeks. It's generally been highs of minus 14 or so (with wind chills way up into the minus 20s). Due to this, all cycling activity has been kept to a very basement level - our basement infact - although it's not too much warmer down there which is why the nightly wind trainer session requires dressing up in this warm garb....

Now for those of you unfamiliar with the rigours of the indoor bike trainer, let it be known that it is one of the hottest tasks known to man - somewhat akin to sumo wrestling in the desert wearing nothing but a garbage bag, and a big hat. However, even the heat of the trainer is lost in this cold snap we're having (nothing to do with the fact that the cheap Williams' don't put their thermostat much above the 'can just detect a pulse' level).

Fortunately, with the cold has come the snow - and lots of it! Despite it having sent the avalanche risk reports through the roof, it has made for the planning of many a fine snowy adventure to come. Brina and I headed out into K country to kick around the skinny skis and it was a treat to be out again (although not having waxed the skis yet this season, last season's rather aged wax had less glide than a one winged 747). The trails were sparse, the views were good and Brina's eyelashes froze up as usual when the temps are really chilly. It's always nice to be swanning around the mountains not having to worry about the 'bear aware' issues of the Great Outdoors (although some poor old feller got eaten by a Grizzly at the start of the week - some bears clearly aren't quite ready to go to sleep yet and still need a bedtime snack).

So apart from that, things are cruising. I'm very much ready for a holiday from work (still sorely miss the October half term) and am winding down lessons already (bring out the classroom videos - I have Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade lined up for class the next few days, on the lame pretence that seeing as though we're starting a Renaissance Europe unit, you can get a glimpse of Renaissance architecture when Indy passes briefly through Venice - but we may as well watch the whole movie now that I've dug it out from the closet - that's a feet up on the desk lesson for Mr.W anyway). Cable t.v. is still wreaking havoc to my early to bed sleeping regimen. But hopefully, we'll be back out in the hills this weekend for avalanche avoiding fun.
Hope you're all cheery as binbag clad sumo wrestlers,
Look behind you - not everyone's gone to sleep yet,
S&S.
p.s. Here's another glimpse of Mrs wife cruising along Elk Pass (or should that be Wapti Pass?).