Hello Retainers..

Ow. Least they came in the post eventually though Mum sent me a parcel last week, and it beat the orthodontists by 2 days! They made it though, that was a relief.

Goodbye braces!

Yes! They're gone! Feels really strange, but so good to have them off, and my teeth back to being nice and smooth. It's amazing how straight my teeth are now, they must have been more wonky than I realised before, and look so different. I'm not sure how much of that is because the brackets and wires have gone or not though.

Tiny bit worried that one tooth has moved out of place really quickly and I haven't got my retainers through the post yet (fingers crossed they come tomorrow to work) and I know the tooth will be forced back and the sooner it moves again, the better.

That's enough about teeth.

Er.. rehearsals tonight were good. Got my overalls and check shirt for my random 'wander-around-the-back-of-the-stage-moving-stuff' role as a removal person; both are huge on me but I don't mind. Seen the band costume for "Merano", could be worse, but they might have to make another pair of shorts now, as they didn't fit me or Vanessa. And the top they've given me for "Bangkok" does make me look like an 80s hooker. Which is the point, but it's still weird.

All I intend to do this weekend is sleep. And possibly think about sorting out my stack of paper that masquerades as my accounts. Not quite as bad as Bernard Black (look about 4 minutes in), but feels as hopeless.

Snow shoes and stuff.

So, in the last week I've been back at work again (woo.) but it's been ok because Dan came out to visit (YAY!) and on Saturday we went up to the nearest resort to Saint Genis, called Crozet. Once we were above the cloud line, it was amazing to see the difference having sun and blue sky, with snow all around and an amazing panorama of the Alps, Mont Blanc and the Seleve. Geneva, the lake and all the countryside around it was completely obscured under a big blanket of cloud. Good to get up there and breathe some fresh air.

Hired some snow shoes, and went for a wander off-piste up the slope to the side of the ski slope. Sat down for a bit at the top before coming tumbling down. Really tranquil and quiet though, apart from ambient noise from the skiers, but easy to block out. We were on our own up there for quite a while really, despite a few others as mad as us to be walking about.

Definitely investing in some ski trousers; Intermarche down the road has a closing down sale, which is perfect as apparently it was a good place to get stuff that was not as crazy-expensive as I'm sure it can be round here. Also considering buying a snowboard (crazy as that sounds) as there's at least one for grabs on the Cern marketplace, and would pay for itself instead of hiring one if I go only 3 times.

Think I have the ski/snowboarding bug. I can see how it's addictive alright, and all I've done is visit a couple of slopes!

Started Chess rehearsals too now; yay! But tiring, especially twice a week. Bit annoying I'm already missing 2 out of the 3 planned weekend rehearsals (not including the Technical ones which are compulsory) as I'm in England from Thursday-Monday this week to have my braces off (woohoo!) and booked a trip with my friends to Berlin in March!

Might be in Brussels in February too. We'll see on that one though, depends on the number of days of holiday I'll have left with one thing and another.

New Years' Resolutions; must update this more often. Must see more of Switzerland to use that railcard I bought.

Festiveness and snowyness

So; haven't updated for a while, so decided it was time to, or I'll stop doing this altogether, which I think would be a shame.

Christmas has been good, back in England, lovely to be home again, and just chill out. Saw couple friends too, and managed to see most of my family. Went down to visit a certain someone (you know who you are) in Bristol for couple days, which was great fun! ^_^

Came back to Geneva for New Year; delayed flight because our plane, and all the others, couldn't get out of the Geneva airport due to really bad weather. Made it in the end though; near 5 hours late. In the end, just watched the New Year (or Bonne Annee) celebrations on the telly, as it was mostly magic acts or acrobats, no translations necessary, which was actually fairly good. Got the can-can at midnight instead of Auld Lang Syne, but you can't have everything! And people were setting fireworks off in the street.

Went back to Fort l'Ecluse yesterday for the afternoon, then into Geneva for a wander round the lake before getting a boat back to the car. Driven all around the lake today; up to Lausanne and Montreux to Chateau Chillon, which is the other extreme end of the lake from Geneva. Was fantastic fortress/castle thing to look round, although shame there was not a slightly better view.

Then drove the rest of the way down the lake, past Thonon and Evian (yes, the same place as the water) and where I used to live in Douvaine and through Geneva to get home.

Plan to get to Lyon tomorrow, and then Chamonix -possibly by train to save driving again- on Sunday.

Lovely to have so much snow around too; proper, stays-all-winter, crunchy snow!