Ski Instructors Report 26th February 2012

I am now back in England, having travelled home on Saturday. I had a brilliant week, great weather and a really super bunch of dry slope/advanced beginners. Not only did they all ski very well they were great fun on and off the slopes. When we stopped for coffee someone would start gathering tables together so that we all sat as one group. This contrasts with some classes, who all split up into couples and family groups, when this happens I feel that I have failed to gel the group into a team. Om Friday I went to hear "Velvet Blues" play in Bogart's bar. They are a great blues band consisting of: a very raunchy keyboard player, who does a smashing cover of Amy Winehouse songs, a brilliant harmonica players, who gives the group a really bluesy feel, a lead and bass guitars and in the engine room, a great drummer. It is not all blues they played a wide range, including soft rock and even some numbers from my teenage years. A guest singer did a tremendous version of Johnny B Goode. I try to be positive with these reports but I must mention a down side to Bogart's. As you enter you are met by a wall of smoke. However if you have the courage to walk past this and turn right at the end of the L shaped bar you are into quite clean air, as they have an efficient extractor system. They reason for the wall of smoke is that the adjacent Piano Bar is non smoking, so the addicts come into to Bogart's and sit at the first two tables to pacify their addiction. This lead me to mention other bars with a non smoking policy.( Andorran has not yet caught up with the civlise world. They will eventually, after all they gave women the vote in 1970). El Moli allows smoking in the bar but NOT in the upstairs restaurant. Cisco's allows smoking in the bar but not in the restaurant until 9 pm. Smoking is allowed then as this is when the Hispanics go out to eat. They are afraid to lose this custom as some Hispanics will smoke before, during and after dinner. Strange people. The Derby has an innovative policy; they discourage smoking in the bar until 8 pm, whilst there are children present. Dean and Darren have provided a sitting area outside with tables , T.V and a heater. This is a great public facility, as smokers can meet other smokers (If a leper wants to meet a partner the best place is a leper colony) I think that it is nice that smokers can meet other smokers, fall in love and breed baby smokers. After all, the country needs their taxes, which more than covers the extra hospital care that they will need. I think that the Department of Works and Pensions should give a badge to everyone smoking 40 a day, as a thank you, for volunteering to die younger, so easing the Country's pension burden. Finally, the Palarine's dining room is strictly non smoking but it is permitted in the bar/Bambu restaurant. There are tables where non smokers can escape to if there are too many Catalans smoking in the Bambu. The Chinese banquet is very popular with the Catalans. I will declare am interest, as some of my readers will have worked out already, I am a non smoker myself. As a footnote,I would like to mention the following: In the Autumn, I invited 43 people back to my house, after a very successful performance of my daughter, as Anna in the "King and I" at the local theatre. These were mostly from the 50+ badminton club and they were all non smokers. It would have taken just one smoker to ruin the atmosphere for the other 42. Bring on the Ban.

Ski Instructor Report 18th February 2012

What a glorious end to the week. Friday and Saturday were brilliant, with clear blue skies and good snow conditions. This contrasts with the rest of the week, when we had a real mix of weather, sometimes cold, sometimes windy sometimes snow. On Friday, in Quo Vadis, I was introduced to the cricketer, Ian Botham. I am Scottish and do not know much about cricket but I am well aware of his successes against Australia in the Ashes series. If you are in Arinsal this week, you may well bump into “Beefy”. Do not do this on the slopes as he is quite a big lad. But if you should meet him in one of the bars, you will find him to be very charming and friendly. We had a lot of children on the slopes this week. The great majority loved the skiing and picked it up very quickly. However, I did notice a significant minority, whit a high BMI. (I would have preferred to use the word “fat” but I am told that it is not politically correct to do so.) Some were so uncoordinated that they could not get off the ground without taking off both skis. I wondered if these are the offspring of the parents who will not park 100 metres away from the school entrance, but would prefer to double bank outside the gate, so that no walking would be involved. I think that my young lifestyle in Edinburgh was so different from those children. I had a half hour walk to school and some of our out-of-school actives included the following: running up three flights of stair in a tenement build, so that we could straddle the banister rail and slide down, using our skill to avoid falling 25 feet into the stair well. Climbing onto the school roof, for no other reason than it was there and it seemed a good idea at the time. It was not all urban activities; we had a large open space next to Holyrood House. This was a huge park with the remains of a volcanic plug in the centre, a wonderful play area. This was a fair distance from where I lived, so we had a long walk down the Royal mile to get there. I would pass the site of the now Scottish Parliament, which in my youth was the site of two breweries. I think, Youngers and McEwans, but cannot be certain. When we had finished playing in the Park, we would run behind the brewers’ dray and hang onto the back of the dray, to get a lift back to the city, this only worked if the dray did not see us. If he did he would crack his whip at us. It was quite easy to catch the dray as the barrels were full and it was uphill, so the horses would trot at a fairly slow pace. We rarely got a lift down to the Park as the beer barrels would be empty, it was downhill and the horses knew that they were going home. this meant that they would be travelling just under a gallop, so only the very fastest runners amongst us could ever catch up with the dray and get a lift. I never was a fast runner and think I only ever got a lift back up the hill. I suppose that all my harmless childish pursuits have been banned by some diktat issued by an unelected Kommisar in Brussels, on some health and safety grounds. Now children are encouraged to write to each other on social websites like twatter, or try to obtain level 7 on Fat Boy 3 on their Xbox console. As the old singer used to croon, “Times, they are a changing” .

Ski Instructor Report 11th February 2012

We had a couple of cold windy days this week, which contrasted with bright sunny ones with great snow conditions. It really was a mixed bag for this week’s guests. Some of my beginners were talking about coming back next season and were asking about the various hotels in Arinsal, (obviously they had not read last week’s report.) We are now ready for the busiest week of the season, half term. Everyone will have children in their party. The only exception will be groups with a school teacher, or someone who has to take their holidays during the half term week. The whole atmosphere is different during that week. I would strongly recommend anyone who does not have to be here that we, to choose any other week of the season. The slopes will be busy, the queues will be longer. The bars and restaurants will be crowded in the early evening’s then quiet later. If you do not have children and do not know when half term is, just look at the hotel prices; some hotels put up there price by over £400 per person that week. Having had my moan, I will probably have a very jolly class and have a great time on the slopes. I am sorry if this report sounds negative but I really do not enjoy half term week. There is a very strong case for Britain (and Ireland) to stager the half term week. I feel that eventually it will happen, some things take time. Consider this; men were walking on the moon over 42 years ago but we have had wheels on suitcases for about 20 years.

Ski Instructor Report 4th February 2012

Like the rest of Europe, Arinsal has been bitterly cold this weekend. It meant that we had excellent snow conditions, if you could wrap up warmly, against the wind and cold. It is very difficult in these conditions to keep children warm. If you examine a child’s glove that due to the size there is very little insulation, therefore a child’s hands get cold much sooner than an adults. Regular readers are aware that I stay in the Palarine hotel and enjoy staying there. . Early last month, this hotel had their first bad review on Tripadvisor. The couple who complained were here during a week when the weather was bad and the ski conditions were not very good, so they blamed everything on the hotel. One complaint was that there was not a kettle in their room. Tea making facilities are commonplace in England but I do not remember having a kettle in any room in a continental European hotel. If this facility is important to you, like me, you will have to bring a travel kettle with you when you visit Arinsal. This misunderstanding had me thinking that I should tell you what I know about the hotels in Arinsal. The Palarine has a good reputation for a friendly service and for its food, many of the expats say that it is the best food in Arinsal and book in for the excellent themed evening meals. rom the village centre, it is 15 minute walk, if you run. I walk down most evenings in 20 minutes. There is a free bus service during the day and a half hourly pay bus (€1-50) running until 10 pm. The St Gothard Hotel is about 10 minutes walk closer to the village centre. It is much larger and is popular with school and group bookings and puts on live entertainment some evenings. In the village centre there is a great selection of hotels all a very short walk from the lift, some only seconds away. They are: the Montane, Coma Pedrosa, Arinsal, Ayma and Micolau. I have not stayed at any of these so it would be unfair to comment on the facilities. The Ayma and Arinsal are traditional Andorran hotels and the others have been recently modernised. There are two apartments both very conveniently situated; St Moniz and Pobtlao Apartments. Clients have praised the standard of accommodation in both. I have not been in either. About three or four minutes walk up the main street is the Princessa Park, thought by some, to be the best hotel in Arinsal and perhaps the most expensive. It has magnificent public rooms, a piano bar and a livelier one in Bogart’s. Some clients have told me that the bedrooms are not as big as they had expected, after seeing the grand entrance and reception area. The Crest and the Patagonia are another ten minutes or so up the hill. Both are situated close to a chairlift and at the end of a ski run that is suitable for intermediates. They are a bit isolated from the other bars in the village. At the very top of the village are the Velvet Apartments they have a magnificent view and are apparently well appointed but only suitable for those with a car. Like they say in Yorkshire “You pays your money and you make your choice.