Bob & Betty go British

Snow!

Well it came a bit late but the snow finally arrived and we've just been enjoying it for the last week in Switzerland. We stayed with Robert's friend Anna, her husband Luke and baby Alex. They have a renovated chalet perched on the side of a mountain in the French-speaking part of Switzerland close to Champery.

While there wasn't a lot of snow there was certainly enough to ski on for most of the week. Dodging the ice, mud and rocks was a bit of a challenge on the lower slopes but we still had fun.

We took the train all the way rather than flying. It is certainly a more relaxed way to get around - no luggage restrictions, no queues, and less anxiety for me. Aside from one very keen gentleman in Paris who insisted on helping us and then insisted that we pay him we had an uneventful trip on the way there.

We were both rather tired when we arrived as I'd had a little trip to hospital on the Friday night before we left. After appearing to have a rash that was an indicator of menangitis I thought it was best to have it checked out rather than give it to the people we were about to stay with. It ended up being something called HSP (Henoch-Schonlein Purpura) which is an autoimmune disease that affects the kidneys. This means now I have to have my kidney function monitored for years to come to watch for signs of kidney disease. I feel like someone has pressed my self-destruct button and my body is turning on me. Fingers crossed that I have a mild case which has no long lasting effects.

Anyway, we had a fantastic time last week. The clean air, good food and great company certainly had a positive effect on me. I feel fitter and healthier even if I still feel very thin. There isn't really much more to tell. We skiied down the mountains and caught the chair lifts up again from Monday to Friday. I freaked out when there were icy bits and generally behaved like a big girl. Robert had a great time but didn't get a chance to use his snow board even though we lugged it across 3 countries! He skiied into France just to say he'd been there and did the swiss wall ski run. We played with little alex and laughed at his antics. He got his first teeth and ate his first pasta while we were there. I'll have to knit something for him now :-)

So we're back in London again and we wish we were still in Switzerland. Looks like I have a date for my gall bladder surgery - March 12 - would still like to talk to someone about my options before I go ahead with it. Maybe I can go back to Switzerland to recover after the surgery :-)

posted by Elisabeth @ 10:21 PM