Last ski of the season

My illness last week turned out to be proper, full-blown flu. I had a miserable day on the Saturday. I was panicked and tried to get to see a doctor, but could only get an appointment if I was prepared to pay $300 (not covered on my insurance). I decided to sit it out.

Jon got home on Saturday evening and cheered me up greatly. I started to improve on Sunday morning, and managed a walk down to the beach, then on the sealions and finally to an ice-cream parlour in North Beach. It was a beautiful day – if I hadn’t been sick, I’d have been in the pool for sure!

I kept on improving through the week. On Monday I managed to go to an Eels concert (fortunately, it was sit-down), then on Tuesday to Spanish class. On Wednesday and Thursday we had visitors – my friend Charlotte from my PGCE course, who was on her honeymoon! And her husband, of course. We went out both nights – firstly to a local Italian, then on Thursday to Chinese (in Chinatown), followed by a drink at my favourite bar, Vesuvio.

Having made it to the end of the week, it was time to head up to Tahoe for the last ski of the season. This time there were just three of us: me, Jon and Tom (from Jon’s work). It was very windy on Saturday, so not many lifts were open. As it’s the end of the season, it was really quiet on the slopes, which meant there were no lift lines, so I’m afraid we soon got a bit bored with doing the same couple of runs over and over again. Add to this the fact that the lower parts of the slope were very slushy, and therefore difficult to ski on, and we were ready to finish early. However, we made the most of the day by heading out on a little drive to lovely Emerald Bay, home to Lake Tahoe’s only island, which is were some rich woman inspired by Norwegian castles built her tea-house many years ago. We walked down to the beach and took photos of this lovely spot, before heading back to South Lake Tahoe.

We ended up eating at Fire & Ice, a “Mongolian wok” style place, where you pick all your raw food, then have it cooked before your eyes on a huge hot plate, while the chefs do cheesy entertainment numbers, juggling spatulas and the like. It was good fun, and certainly a great feast. There’s no way we’d ever be able to get in there at high season without a wait of several hours, so it was a good time to go. Afterwards, we went for a drink in Montbleu Casino (the casinos never fail to strike me as very weird places!) and then set off on a very cold walk back to the motel in the icy wind.

Today, in spite of the prevailing winds, nearly all the lifts were open, so we boarded the Heavenly gondola and were swept up to the slopes for a great day. Again, it was very quiet, with no lift lines, so we did a huge amount of skiing (my sore calves are evidence of this!), including the Olympic Downhill twice. In the afternoon, we headed down the black run I did the last weekend I was in Tahoe, but this time it was really icy. However, feeling more confident after my lesson in March, I made it down just fine. It was a really cold day, though, which made for crunchy snow (still, that’s better than slushy!), and at one point Jon’s beard and moustache iced up!

UK visit and return to the Golden State

Haven’t blogged for a while. Mainly because I’ve been away in the UK – went for a week to visit family and friends, and to go to a wedding. If you’re reading this, then you’re probably one of the family and friends that I visited!

The weather was atrocious when we arrived a week last Saturday – throwing it down with rain. However, Jon still managed to drag me down to the Thames to watch the Oxford-Cambridge boat race, as it went past Hammersmith Bridge. We all got soaked by the wake of one of the speedboats following the crews. It was one of those moments of truly British camaraderie – all camped out in the rain, getting soaking wet, to watch thirty seconds of action. That night we stayed in a hotel in Kensington (I would have said it was the smallest hotel room ever, but the receptionist actually moved us to a supposedly “bigger” room when he saw our bags, so I can only assume that smaller rooms do exist). We went out for a curry with our good friends Karen and Duncan. It was nice to partake of a beer or two in a British pub.

On Sunday, we picked up a hire car from Heathrow and went up to stay with my parents for a few days. The journey seemed very short after our long weekend treks to Tahoe and the like! On Monday we made other visits: to my aunty June and then to Jon’s gran, who was actually due to come out of hospital that day. We ended up taking her home from the hospital. Then, in the evening, my brothers came around for dinner.

The next day, we went out for a posh lunch to Hassop Hall, in the Peak District. I’d been there once before, and it was just as lovely – a beautiful stately home turned hotel in the heart of some delightful countryside, with good food to boot. It was great to get out with Mum and Dad.

After three nights in Derbyshire, we headed down to Bristol to stay with our friends, Andy and Dipika. We had a nice meal together (with yet more wine! – Quite a lot got drunk during the week). The next day, we saw Jon’s dad and step-mum Pam, who came up to Bristol from Devon. We had a lovely day out in Clifton. The weather was good enough to sit outside, which we did, having lunch at a pub with great views of the gorge and suspension bridge. That evening, we went out for dinner with Andy and Dipika to a really cool tapas-type restaurant.

Friday was the day of the wedding. It took place near the school where I used to work in Bishop’s Stortford, Herts. In fact, the parking was in the school car park, and I bumped into my old boss, which was a bit unexpected! The wedding was lovely: the bride and bridesmaids looked gorgeous (the latter were in bright turquoise with pink tulips) and Emily’s three little nephews, which look like different-sized clones of each other, were charming (as are their names: Archie, Billy and Herbie!). We moved on to the reception at Quendon Hall, another former stately home, just north of Bishop’s Stortford (passing through the amusingly named village of Ugley!). The weather was kind, and we were able to sip champagne outside in the lovely gardens. Over dinner, I talked a lot to Emily’s German friend, who owns an ice-cream café in Hamburg. In the evening, my replacement at the school, Antje, was there, so I got to catch up on some gossip.

On Saturday, we moved on to Dan and Michelle’s place, near Hertford. It was great to see them again – as well as our gorgeous ex-cat, Pebbles! In the evening, we went out for a dinner at Marconato restaurant in Hoddesdon with lots of friends. It was a bit difficult to get to talk to everyone, but I think I managed it. It was wonderful to see so many, including Jon’s brother, who’s lost loads of weight – well done, James!

On Sunday, we awoke to snow on the ground. I couldn’t believe it! Not only would I have to contend with Terminal 5, but most likely a dire journey there through the snow! However, in the end, the journey was fine. Jon drove me over there. My flight was delayed almost three hours due to the snow and general Terminal 5 disorganisation, but I filled the time by using it to do my Spanish homework. Couldn’t sleep a wink on the plane (I never can), so I watched movies and did more Spanish homework. I also wandered around quite a lot, as I had an aisle seat for once. It was cool looking out of the window at the ice floes between Canada and Greenland!

Back in San Francisco, I’ve had a bit of a rough time: first with jetlag, then with a flu-like illness (apparently Dan and Michelle have had the same thing, so I’m guessing I caught it in England). Managed to go to Spanish class on Tuesday, but then had to leave work early on Wednesday. I did a long day on Thursday, but that did me in, and now I’m back to square one, so I’ve only been into work for a couple of hours today. It’s so frustrating, especially as today is the warmest so far in the year, and would otherwise be a sunbathing and pool afternoon! I miss Jon, especially as I really could do with having someone to look after me. Still, things can only be so bad when you’re in San Francisco. I get to travel by cable car. I get to see great architecture on my way to work. I get to look out over the Bay and the mountains beyond on a cloudless day when I’m home sick. I just hope I can get well soon, so that I can get back to enjoying it all.

Oh, I haven’t commented on the Olympic torch relay, which came through on Wednesday. It was a shambles, as far as I can tell. They advertised a route, then changed it completely at the last minute, without telling anyone, and they also cancelled the closing ceremony – again without telling anyone. You have to ask, what IS the point?!

Photos from my UK visit are available here: http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick/uk-visit-marapril-08/ (password: moocow)