April fool.
I've flung my window wide open with my feet propped up in the sunshine. It's been raining most of the week so it feels like a bit of a treat.
There is still plenty of snow up in the mountains however. A couple of weeks ago we went up to Valberg for the day. It was a good day, albeit not a very successful one. By three o'clock in the afternoon there were only three of us left on the slopes. We lost one rookie to an unfortunate tumble on the learner slope (she insisted on walking the rest of the way down, despite our insistence that it was 1.5km to the bottom), someone throwing a strop about their ski boots and deciding to walk back to the resort, and another rather more serious injury which started with a torn ligament & ended in an impressive trip down a red piste. Unfortunately the person in question was strapped onto a stretcher for the duration, but at least technically she managed a red.
Other than that, Nice is the same as ever. I finished my stage in the middle of March, which was a bit odd. We all ate croissants, I got given a really nice card & the boss gave a little speech which wasn't as bad as it could have been, considering he accidentally referred to the last stagiaire as 'a parasite' when he said goodbye to her.
Then I went to Toulouse in a rather haphazard fashion, waking up 10 minutes before my train was due to depart & packing nearly every item I owned into my bag as I was in such a rush. I spent a really nice couple of days with Maya & Jenny however, so it was worth the ridiculous journey to get there. We spent a lot of time at the many markets, wasted in a few hours in one of the many salon de thés, and then spent a lot more time lounging in the sunshine on the banks of the Garonne. We even found some time to go on a road trip and have a few bicycle adventures. It was pretty beautiful. Toulouse even felt rather tranquil, almost a bit of a village-like city. It was completely different from Nice.
For one reason or another though I felt a bit anxious to get back to Nice. Despite the total absence of anything resembling a plan it is home & I missed it. I didn't think I'd end up saying things like that way back in July, but there you are. I'm quite settled. I know the ladies at the bakery, they know what to get me without me asking these days. Plus, I have a plant. You can't walk away from a place easily when there is a potted plant to consider. What if it died of neglect!?
The career as a beach hobo got off to a rather dubious start. The first beautiful sunny day we had I joined my friends at the beach, rolled my jeans up to go for a quick paddle & then got home four hours later to realise that I have now tanned half way up my shins, & have very fetching two-tone legs. Not a good look.
Other things have been going on however. We spent a day at the aquarium in Monaco, followed by a whole evening watching Finding Nemo. I have been wined & dined in a manner that ressembles an episode of 'Come Dine With Me' (they had an oven - it was the culinary event of the year!) All in all, I haven't found it too hard to keep myself occupied after the 9-5 slave labour of the past few months.
I was even starting not to miss it, until I walked in to collect my reference & got asked "Will you come back please?!"
I have now gone back to slave labour for 15 hours a week.
I am an idiot.
xXx
There is still plenty of snow up in the mountains however. A couple of weeks ago we went up to Valberg for the day. It was a good day, albeit not a very successful one. By three o'clock in the afternoon there were only three of us left on the slopes. We lost one rookie to an unfortunate tumble on the learner slope (she insisted on walking the rest of the way down, despite our insistence that it was 1.5km to the bottom), someone throwing a strop about their ski boots and deciding to walk back to the resort, and another rather more serious injury which started with a torn ligament & ended in an impressive trip down a red piste. Unfortunately the person in question was strapped onto a stretcher for the duration, but at least technically she managed a red.
Other than that, Nice is the same as ever. I finished my stage in the middle of March, which was a bit odd. We all ate croissants, I got given a really nice card & the boss gave a little speech which wasn't as bad as it could have been, considering he accidentally referred to the last stagiaire as 'a parasite' when he said goodbye to her.
Then I went to Toulouse in a rather haphazard fashion, waking up 10 minutes before my train was due to depart & packing nearly every item I owned into my bag as I was in such a rush. I spent a really nice couple of days with Maya & Jenny however, so it was worth the ridiculous journey to get there. We spent a lot of time at the many markets, wasted in a few hours in one of the many salon de thés, and then spent a lot more time lounging in the sunshine on the banks of the Garonne. We even found some time to go on a road trip and have a few bicycle adventures. It was pretty beautiful. Toulouse even felt rather tranquil, almost a bit of a village-like city. It was completely different from Nice.
For one reason or another though I felt a bit anxious to get back to Nice. Despite the total absence of anything resembling a plan it is home & I missed it. I didn't think I'd end up saying things like that way back in July, but there you are. I'm quite settled. I know the ladies at the bakery, they know what to get me without me asking these days. Plus, I have a plant. You can't walk away from a place easily when there is a potted plant to consider. What if it died of neglect!?
The career as a beach hobo got off to a rather dubious start. The first beautiful sunny day we had I joined my friends at the beach, rolled my jeans up to go for a quick paddle & then got home four hours later to realise that I have now tanned half way up my shins, & have very fetching two-tone legs. Not a good look.
Other things have been going on however. We spent a day at the aquarium in Monaco, followed by a whole evening watching Finding Nemo. I have been wined & dined in a manner that ressembles an episode of 'Come Dine With Me' (they had an oven - it was the culinary event of the year!) All in all, I haven't found it too hard to keep myself occupied after the 9-5 slave labour of the past few months.
I was even starting not to miss it, until I walked in to collect my reference & got asked "Will you come back please?!"
I have now gone back to slave labour for 15 hours a week.
I am an idiot.
xXx