2 gigs in 1 night

Colin and Steve were supposed to be playing in Rocks on Tuesday, but they couldn’t as Colin was curling in the Dolly Cup tournament. They moved their gig to Wednesday, which of course is the day we go to the Caprice to see Beves and Ibe. Two gigs in one night therefore. We started with Duo Centrale.

And moved on up to the Caprice half way through.

A good night out.

This morning was overcast and eerily mild. We did go down to the valley for a walk but it was damp, gloomy and generally unpleasant, so we retreated back home. It started snowing about an hour later.

Everyone’s day off

It’s a beautiful morning, and lots of people have a day off, so half a dozen of us set off up the hill. Left to right we have Val, Nick, Clare, Ali and Colin.

Chairlift selfie.

Lunch in an old cowshed down towards Grindelwald.

Top of Lauberhorn (me).

In the world cup start hut (me again).

We had a really nice day out, and needless to say it ended with drinks at the Figeller bar.

Tonight we have Duo Centrale at Rocks, and Uptown Lights at the Caprice. We’ll manage to see them both somehow.

What to wear

Every morning we face a dilemma. What’s the weather going to do, and what, therefore, should we wear? Yesterday it was easy as it was very cold – just wear everything you have. Today it’s a few degrees warmer, so we wear rather less and hope not to get cold. 25 years ago these decisions were pure guesswork based on nothing more than a glance out of the window. Nowadays we have a computerised weather station on the balcony, and of course we have the internet. Strange then, that our success at predicting the weather doesn’t seem to have improved much over the years. We were way overdressed today.

Quite busy up the hill, but no queues.

Val cranks the skis over on the way down to Holenstein.

Off to the Caprice this afternoon to help them out with some IT stuff.

Bump Bump

The snow finally came to an end while we were in Rocks yesterday evening, and this morning it’s cold but sunny. Up we go. Half term holidays have begun in some parts of Switzerland so it’s quite busy, but the kids tend to ski in big groups so they’re easy to avoid.

There’s been no time to prepare the pistes after the snow, so they quickly get chopped up and bumpy. Fun to ski, but exhausting. Val kicking up some spray.

Duo Centrale tonight at the Sunstar.

Snow

It started snowing while we were in the pub last night, and it hasn’t stopped since. Usually this would mean we get woken up by the snowplough at about 9am, but it’s Sunday, so no-one is scheduled to work. The plough eventually arrived at lunch time.

Very few people went up the hill, and most of those who did were soon driven back to the village by the weather. The main street is always the first to be cleared, but of course the snow continues to fall and it’s soon covered again.

Aneta is starting a new yoga class tonight, so Val will give it a try before we go to Rocks for the quiz.

Animal Farm

We had a lot of snow last night, but it had stopped by this morning. Val was up early to take Jim down to his transfer bus at Lauterbrunnen.

We heard some reports that Ibex have been seen at a nearby viewpoint called Staubachbankli, so we set off to have a look. Of course we see lots of animals at the farms on the way there.

We tip-toed up to the viewpoint, but no wildlife was to be seen. It’s quite a mild day, and across the valley we can hear ice falling from the cliffs. It sounds like gunfire.

The path back to Wengen passes Bob and Rachel’s, so we popped in for a coffee. Temperatures are falling again now, and it looks like we’ll get more snow tonight.

Chilly

It’s cold, dark and snowing in Wengen this morning, so we jump on the train and head to Interlaken where hopefully it should be a few degrees warmer. Down at the lake, the kayak school have a nice big class. They wear dry suits, so the weather doesn’t really make any difference.

It’s about three quarters of an hour’s walk back to Interlaken Ost, and we picked up some shopping before heading for home.