Ski Success!

Thanks to the unique way that internet access can come and go in Beirut, I am blogging a day later than I planned. This means that for those who were looking for an insightful analysis of what may happen tomorrow, you will have to wait because a) I do not know - in fact, I don't think anyone knows and b) I am far too proud of my new-found ability to get down a ski slope to let my descriptions of this occasion go unpublished.

Dom, I and a few others went up to the Cedars at the weekend. Thanks to the wonderful bank holiday system here, where there are more bank holidays than hot dinners at the moment, we went up on Friday morning. I was determined to face the nemesis that was the red run at the Cedars, and lay the memory of me walking down the slope to rest. The Friday was bad. The snow was not good, and the skis we hired of poor quality. In fact, my friend Michelle managed to end up with skis that were different lengths! We persevered however, and I did make it down the red run once. But v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. I then kept going up halfway on the draglift to practice turns... but I kept falling off and I find it very difficult to get back up again. I know it is the first thing you are supposed to master but I appear to have zero upper body strength.

No matter, after a good evening out singing karaoke (I managed another Bonnie Tyler, a Mamas and Papas song and Alanis Morrisette - very eclectic!) I appeared to find better snow and some skiing ability! I got down the red run several times with only slight pressure on my hamstings and a slightly overworked backside from the effort of not falling over, even when headed in wrong directions!

Now, before readers of this site think that I am either very boastful or a late candidate for the winter olympics I must add that the skiing style I have developed is functional, not elegant. Purists would raise their hands in horror at the technique I have adopted. But, as the ski season in Lebanon is due to finish in a few weeks, I fear that the Walshe-Crouch, as I think I may term it, is here to stay, for another year at least.

Sunday was spent back in Beirut, listening to a variety of vans with loudspeakers broadcasting a mixture of political entreaties and pop music. And it is LOUD! Not only do have have to listen to people honking their car horns on a normal, everyday basis (as Lebanese drivers are wont to do), but everyone was honking their horns in a pattern yesterday. (The pattern is familiar to all who watch football matches: duh duh, duh duh duh, duh duh duh duh, DUH DUH). I am pretty pleased that I didn't have a hangover!

Anyway, this is continuing this evening. Beirut is gearing up for tomorrow, but for what, we won't know until then...