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It’s almost time for the Lauberhorn international races. Last year’s races were cancelled, and there’s still a chance of this happening again, but construction needs to start now if the races are to have any chance of going ahead. Loudspeakers waiting to be taken up to the start.

Piste machines double-up as fork lift trucks to deliver everything.

And here are the people who’s job it is to build everything. They are from the Swiss Civil Protection Organisation.

This year the races will take place over four days. Normally around 30,000 people come to watch. I can’t imagine that number being allowed this year though.

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Val was away early for her lessons this morning. Scheidegg is a bit gloomy early on, but it’s pleasant enough with the mild temperatures.

Lots of lunch options available. It’s still pretty busy, there must have been a lot of new arrivals yesterday.

At home I sorted out all our accumulated cardboard, ready for the monthly collection on Tuesday. It’s amazing how much we collected over Christmas.

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Val has worked all week, and today the two boys she’s been teaching are heading home to Belgium, so it’s a day off. And what a day! It’s exceptionally mild, with bright sunshine. The balcony furniture comes out, and we can sit out and enjoy the sun.

The sun disappears at about a quarter past three, but it’s nice while it lasts. Many of the Christmas visitors will leave today, so the village will soon return to its usual sleepy normality.

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It’s going to be our second New Year’s Eve at home. Last year everything was closed, so we had little choice. Normally we’d start with some live music in the Sunstar, followed by a rollicking party in Rocks. Fireworks at midnight in the village, bell ringers in the street, and Jools Holland on telly.

This year, the bars are all open of course. However, it’s extremely busy, and no matter how many vaccinations we’ve had, it all feels a bit risky. So we’ll have a get-together at home, as we’ve done so often over the past couple of years. I popped down to Interlaken earlier while Val was working, and bought lots of nibbles. The fridge is full of beer and wine. And of course, we can still watch Jools on TV later.

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The rain finally came to an end overnight, and this morning the sun came out. Huge queue for the cable car.

In Wengen everything’s melting, but the valley gets very little sun at this time of year, so it’s still snowbound.

Val skied her kids down to the new restaurant at Brandegg this morning – it was their first excursion beyond the nursery slope.

Lots of people relaxing on deckchairs at the Figeller bar. It’s warm, and it feels like being at the beach.

More warm, sunny weather to come tomorrow apparently.

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It started raining yesterday afternoon, and Val’s kids had had enough by 3 o’clock. This morning it was still raining, and her lesson was over after just a couple of hours. Rain is tolerable if you have all the right gear, but for children on holiday it’s just miserable.

The village is awash with slush.

The rain is forecast to continue overnight, before it stops sometime tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

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Wengen is probably the ultimate kid-friendly ski village, what with no traffic and nursery slopes right in the centre. It’s no surprise therefore, that it’s very popular with families.

This is pretty much the only week of the season when all the European children are off school at the same time. It’s busy!

Of course the adults can go skiing too. The queue for the Männlichen cable car wasn’t too bad this morning.

Val has lessons all day every day this week, needless to say. We’ll get back to skiing when the kids go back to school next week.