70: In the Summertime
So summer has been, and early nightfall outside the study window as I labour over the keyboard heralds another shift in the seasons.
And what a summer; seven weeks back to back of ‘Isle of Deals’ patrons all proudly brandishing their vouchers and keen to test all the area has to offer the summer visitor. Mainly but not exclusively travelling from the Rock, they came their various ways; grand motorcycle tour, hire-car from Dover, fraught first-timers hiring from the wrong side of Geneva Airport, by airport transfer and by Jag purring up from Malaga. Just about all wound up hopelessly lost; my careful directions proved less than useless (particularly popular was ‘turn left at the bus shelter’ – which of three?!) and all relying on the various incarnations of Sat Nav were wrongly directed to the Village Church about a mile away and had to be rounded up like lost sheep as dinner congealed on the table..
And once they found their bearings there was nothing this lot didn’t get up to. Our cyclists swarmed up impossible mountain passes and beguiled their way onto closed sections of the Tour de France, others took to the skies on parapentes, slid down zip-wires, hurtled down VTT trails. Culture was not eschewed, the scented gardens of Yvoire proved popular, Annecy’s guided walks were fully explored and our heroes even penetrated the inner sanctum of CERN, hopefully without undue collision. Mountain Railways, Tramways, Cable Cars, Lake Steamers all carried our intrepid voyagers and mostly managed to bring them back to their departure point if not always at the anticipated hour – but so what, as the Boss never tired of saying –‘You’re on Holiday!’
Meanwhile new rhythms were dictated for the chalet host; daily pool maintenance and watering of flower-baskets replacing the morning rituals of the winter season, and new lighter summer recipes made their way onto the menu; and for the hostess, a return after a break of some twenty years to the joys of home baking; very good, she assures me, for working out accumulated frustrations... The swimming pool proved immensely popular, hardly surprising as the temperature climbed into the 30s. For the first time in my experience Chamonix Meteo chose ‘scorching’ to describe the weather for three days last week; we sweated under a single sheet each night, windows open to the slightest breeze. Goodness knows how they managed in the valley.
But cooler this week, thank goodness, and whether due to the recent heat or perhaps on cue in any case some leaves are starting to turn; will we see the magnificent colours of last autumn? So another season brings a different clientele; another cookery course scheduled for October and walkers and those attracted by the alpine scenery coming to fill the gap until the first snows herald our sixth winter in the Alps. The Manx press last week reported a local company supplying Christmas puddings to Harrods (or was it Fortnum & Masons); already?? Now where can I get my hands on one...
{http://www.manxski.com.manxski.com|Click here to visit manxski.com}
{http://www.iomtoday.co.im/community/blogs|www.iomtoday.co.im/community/blogs|Click here to see earlier blog entries}
{http://www.facebook.com/pages/Manxskicom/7180218948?ref=ts|Visit ManxSki on Facebook|Click here for the ManxSki facebook page}