Dahl for Dummies

I'm going through a bit of a couch-potato phase at the moment, which is okay until I realise that I've been sat infront of a Korean film with Dutch subtitles for the past two hours and have no comprehension of what the hell is going on.

Time to go read a book.

I am enjoying my second literary childhood. I am re-discovering my love of Roald Dahl, but this time I read the stories to Peter in Dutch. My Dutch tutor suggested that I read aloud to a native speaker so that I can be corrected on my (numerous) pronounciation errors. This is all very well, but I seem to have the knack of sending Peter to sleep before I've got through a couple of pages.

Still, I've learned that the Big Friendly Giant (BFG) transforms into the Grote Vriendelijke Reus (GVR) for little Dutch children and that Charlie (of Chocolate Factory fame) becomes Sjakie. Even though it's a bit of a struggle wrestling with the vocabulary the books are still really great and I'm happy to have an excuse for a good bedtime story, even though I was supposed to have grown out of it years ago. I'm just proud to have increased my reading age in recent months - my Jip en Janneke phase seems like a distant dream to me now.

Poor Trousers

My trousers got run over by a train today.

I was busy running along the platform, hoping to catch the metro that was about to pull away when I was suddenly aware of people shouting 'Mevrouw! Mevrouw!!' at me.

I turned to see that my backpack had opened and my various belongings (dirty gym kit, old newspapers, woolley hat, etc etc.) were strewn the entire length of the platform. Embarrassed, I turned back and started collecting everything together, when I noticed one man pointing down at the train rails. We both stood and looked at my poor trousers, lying down there like the victim of a horrible accident. 'Het trein komt Mevrouw' he said (the train is coming Miss). I think he was worried that I would suddenly hurl myself infront of it on some kind of trouser mercy-mission.

Later Peter came in and was complaining that the Metros were delayed due to problems on the line during his trip home from work. I've heard that leaves on the line can wreak havoc, but surely this doesn't extend to clothing? Or does it?

Falling Down Mountains

After a seemingly endless drive yesterday we're back home from the mountains for the last time this season. We had a great week staying in a little village called Oz en Oisans, nestled just under Alpe D'Huez, in a really lovely apartment(Chalet de Neiges). So much snow had fallen in the days before we arrived that we had plenty of great powder to play in and we couldn't believe our luck with the weather - 6 days of continuous sunshine! The area boasts 245km of pistes, so there was plenty of great runs to discover, then back to the apartment each evening for a hot bath and a bit of home cooking.

Unfortunately our luck didn't extend to staying injury-free and one of our party (Sarah) ended up with a broken leg and damaged knee ligaments after a fall towards the end of the week. Peter also sprained his wrist attempting a jump on his board on the same day. Suitably cautioned, I was definitely taking things easy by Friday, and managed to make it home with nothing more serious than the usual collection of bruises.

The (pre-injury!) photos are online HERE.