Don’t worry, this isn’t a nasty story about vomiting and diarrhoea. I’ve just lucked out on some of my groceries. As the chalets and hotels can’t supply anything to guests that’s gone out of date, I’ve been cherry-picking some stuff that would otherwise hit the skip. Some of it’s not even past date, but will be by the time everyone arrives.

Pick of the crop, though, was going into the Trading Post in Bourge (which is run by an old director of the company I work for now). I spotted some Brown Ale on the shelf and decided to treat myself to a bottle. Sad as I am, I recognised the label as being a little old – it’s the one with the trivia facts on the back. The current ones are advertising the anniversary of the beer. A quick check and I saw that its sell-by date was September 30th. I walked out with seven free out of date bottle of Brown Ale. Wicked! Not a worry, either. I had some in the house when I moved out that was over a year out of date and I didn’t die after drinking that.

Once more apologies for the lack of postings and the lack of pictures. I aim to rectify this at the weekend with a big catchup but can’t make promises! Most people go to Val d’Isere once a year. I’ll have been there four times in a fortnight by Thursday night. Nice drive, but a long one!

Things have been going in fits and starts as far as success goes – mainly due to France Telecom and Orange being about as much use as any other telecommunications company I’ve ever dealt with. It’s hurried, panicked, last-minute, frenetic… but ultimately satisfying when you get someone up and going over the phone at 10pm and they can finally print and start sorting things out for their guests arriving.