Journey to Belle Plagne

After what seems like rather a long journey we have arrived in our apartment in the ski resort of Belle Plagne in the French Alps. First of all Tom and Ruby went on their own holiday to the cattery. They cried all the way in the car (probably because they thought that they were going to the vet!) It's the same excellent cattery that Jack and Jill used to go to, spacious and comfortable with lovely owners whom we know well, so I have no qualms about leaving them there. We then set off for the airport and had a leisurely lunch after checking in. There was a stag party of about eight young men sitting beside us on our flight who became increasingly drunk during the journey because they were refilling bottles of tango with vodka that they had bought in duty free. They offered me some but I declined! One of them was dressed as the disgraced entertainer Jimmy Savile (I always thought he was creepy but I was shocked when it all came out after he died that he really was a child sex abuser) and his friends shouted "Jimmy! Jimmy!" endlessly. I heard a little girl asking her father "Is Jimmy a pop star?" to which he diplomatically replied "Yes that's right." To make matters worse one of the inebriated band asked the steward pointedly if the co-pilot was having a bad day and whether he would be landing the plane. This was clearly a very poor taste reference to the co-pilot who locked his captain out of the cockpit last week and deliberately crashed his plane into the French Alps, killing himself and all on board. The steward understandably just walked away without replying.

I suppose the whole journey was only eight hours or so including car, flight and bus journey. which is not at all unreasonable, but it felt quite long, perhaps due to the stag party who although friendly were rather wearing, or perhaps due to arriving at the resort in the dark which I always find a little dispiriting. We were cheered by the large amount of snow on the mountains; Belle Plagne has had more snow this past week than in the whole season up to now, which is good news for us. And our apartment is clean, well appointed and more spacious than we thought it would be.

We soon met up with Jamie and Aisling who flew out from Edinburgh earlier today and had a lively and enjoyable supper in the nearby K2 restaurant. Everyone was in good spirits and looking forward to our holiday.