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Every morning our friend Michael sits on the Crystal bar terrace and has breakfast. Without a word being said to the hosts, he is served an espresso, and then, 5 minutes later, a beer. I join him for this ritual whenever I can, and this morning it was Val’s turn as she had an earlier appointment at the doctors.

It really is a lovely spot to sit for an hour in the morning sunshine. I came up to the village a little later as I had a ton of recycling to get rid of. This afternoon I went for my first run of the summer season. My ribs still aren’t completely healed so it hurt a bit, but I was happy to find I could go reasonably fast.

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We often visit the hotel Caprice for pizza. It’s inexpensive and delicious, and the dining room is the nicest in Wengen. View from our table yesterday evening.

The hotel will be closing after the Easter weekend, so that’ll be our last pizza of the winter season.

This morning the sun was out, but the temperature was struggling to get above zero, and there was a biting north wind. We headed down to Interlaken where it was a little less cold. Bowls of soup at the Cafe de Paris warmed us up.

We had a walk along the river before heading back to Wengen, where it was still uncomfortably chilly. It may officially be spring, but it seems the weather gods didn’t get the memo.

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Val went skiing today, she met Rachel at Männlichen. Up at the top it’s a lovely day, with lots of kids enjoying the sunshine.

The problem, unfortunately, is the fog that clings to the mountainside. If you ski down from the summit you immediately have problems seeing where you’re going.

Nevertheless she had a good ski, and got back in time for a late lunch. It’s still cold down here in the village, and everyone’s complaining that spring should be here now.

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Very nice meal at the Steakhouse last night with Anne-Marie and Paul.

This morning Val was off to the gym at Wilderswil. Here is the school bus from the small farming village of Saxeten. As well as delivering the kids to school, it collects the milk from the farmers.

It’s been cold today, and I didn’t go far. Deer stew and mash should make for a warming dinner.

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Yesterday the weather was simply awful. High winds and rain meant no skiing at all.

About the only thing still operating was the nursery slope at Scheidegg, so Val still had to go to work. She returned at lunchtime absolutely drenched. Not to worry, it’s Friday, and there’s no work tomorrow. Time for a night out. We caught the train down to Interlaken and headed for the Brasserie. It’s popular for an after-work drink on Fridays, so it was busy. We had a couple of beers and walked a few paces down the street to our favourite Indian restaurant, the Taj Palace. Great food.

The restaurant has recently been refurbished, and it now features a rickshaw.

We popped into Rocks for a quick cocktail on the way home. Nice night out. Today the weather’s been much better, which was nice as we needed to get shopping from Interlaken.

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It was sunny and very mild when I walked up to the village this morning, and after getting the shopping I had a very enjoyable coffee on the terrace at the Crystal bar. All the snow that fell at the beginning of the week has melted away. The village is looking quite spring-like.

These mild temperatures are very nice for the likes of me while I enjoy my morning coffee, but of course they’re not too good for the skiing. About 2 hours after I took my photo, Val got this one on her way down from Scheidegg. It’s the ski run from Allmend to Wengen, and it’s getting a bit thin.

You can also see that there’s rain coming up the valley, and that’s what we had all afternoon. It was nice to stay at home.

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Val got a phone call early this morning to tell her that the family she’s been teaching wouldn’t be skiing today. To be honest I don’t blame them – it’s very windy and wet. So Val finished her jigsaw instead. Here it is.

The picture is a scene from the 1962 recording of ‘Dinner for One’, a sketch featuring British comedians Freddie Frinton and May Warden. Although largely unknown in Britain, it is hugely popular in German-speaking Europe, as well as the Scandinavian countries. If you have fifteen minutes to spare, you can watch it here.

We met Ali and Emily for lunch, and tonight it’ll be an early dinner at the Caprice, followed by Steve and Colin playing at the Alpine.