Problem Feet and Hangovers

The weather has varied over the last few days, which has resulted in an amazing slide show of cloud formations. Work wise, this weekend I was involved with another 'Corporate' booking. I've taught Larry, Mark and Graham at different times. They've all been burning the candles at both ends, as is to be expected, with perhaps Graham going beyond the call of duty sometimes. Meet Graham. Oh dear, I don't think he's looking at his best right now, something to do with toffee vodkas. We'll go back to a photo of him a little later. Graham first put skis on last August, in Chile of all places. He had three days as a complete beginner over there, and I took over to help him progress on and beyond the green pistes. However, he had a major problem, incredible pain in his ski boots. It stems back to a few problems in his youth, plus breaking his foot when running to a meeting in London. Instead of jumping up to mount the pavement he instead swiftly whacked the kerb with full force, hence the broken foot. Cue wincing from all readers. Two operations later and his feet now look like this.....

This photo was taken on Mark's iPhone. On the second day, Graham said to me at lunchtime "It's no use Martin, I can't cope anymore with my feet, where should I go to buy some boots, who do you trust?" A quick text was sent to Helen, a highly respected boot fitter in Intersport below the Barometer bar, an appointment made and a few hours later Graham was the proud owner of some shiny new boots.

More on Graham later. At the end of last week I also taught Carmel, from Dublin. She is a retired school teacher, in her sixties. It was her first ever skiing holiday and was just loving the experience.

We had three fun sessions together, with the main focus of staying safe. However Carmel also developed her balance skills, perfected her snowploughs, and then fine tuned her turning/steering to the point that we were both happy to move away from the comfort zone of the nursery slope, or baby slope as she called it.

To many people it's a massive step to take, and the achievement is worth celebrating. Carmel was really pleased with herself, and couldn't wait to tell her friends and family how brilliant this sport is, at whatever age. I hope they all read this blog and see how chuffed she was. Respect.

Martin

P.S. Let's catch up with Graham again shall we? "How are your new ski boots Graham?"

"Boots (discreet burb) are absolutely brilliant Martin, feet are great, that's not the problem though, have you got any paracetomel (discreet burb) cos I'm really struggling here, I dropped my last two down the plug hole this morning !?!" Graham was looking a little yellow.

Hang on, the evergreen Carmel want's to make a comment... "What a light weight, you English can't hold your drink, chuckle chuckle" Oh, that's a bit harsh don't you think?