Make Happiness By Dancing

I have to share this video of my two year old niece. She taught her self to dance and I'd love to join in. Why can't we adults make ourselves happy as easily as this?

Prosecco Queens

Shameless selfie time. We had a drink at Kim's local and I couldn't believe two proseccos were only £8.70. I told Kim and she was like: "I know! A lot of chavs come here and they like prosecco!" Maybe because it's so cheap? Bless her, I love her unapologetic honesty.

Post St Anton Depression

Here's a picture of St Anton you won't see in the travel sites. This was taken around midnight from our chalet room. It's the main street of St Anton, where revellers wonder after hours. 

We were pampered in Chalet Amalien Haus. It's 5 minutes walk from the ski lifts. Our room faced the mountains and the street and it was lovely watching the snow fall while having a cuppa by the window. We had a small room but the ensuite was huge and newly renovated. On our beds was a toiletry set from Molton Brown and we had welcoming drinks where we met our fellow chalet mates. 

Other guests were Aussies, kiwis, and Brits. We spent our dinners including Christmas dinner together and for everyone except the the large family, we even skied together one day. 

We had our beds made daily, English fry ups, afternoon tea with cake, pre-dinner drinks with canapes and a three course dinner with wine. Post St Anton depression hit harder as we are left to fend for ourselves when we have to leave. 

The chalet staff were young Brits, typically just finished university and on their "gap winter". Our chalet host was amazing, ever so helpful and friendly. The cook did a magnificent job. The food was well cooked-duck, turkey, fish and chicken for our main meals. 

The best pleasures of staying at Chalet Amalien Haus was after storing away our skis and boots at Jennwein (worth it due to the proximity to the chair lifts), slipping into my ugg boots and walk down the villagey street of St Anton. Then I'd crawl into a hot bath and sip green tea to unwind after a day of skiing. 

More on our ski trip to come.

Happy New Year-Welcome 2015!

In London and perhaps the rest of the UK, it's perfectly acceptable to spend a cosy night at home on new years eve. It's cold, probably raining and if drunken crowds don't discourage you, the so-so fireworks after enduring those things should. My first new years eve in London was a fizzer.

This year my girlfriend Kim had a party. I left work at 1pm (after watching the Sydney fireworks online) and went straight to hers. This girl among many things can cook and she already started before I arrived. 

She served a feast of BBQ pork ribs, Vietnamese spring rolls, summer rolls, lettuce wraps and canapes. All made from scratch. If that wasn't enough to impress, she did a makeover on me too. She's a wonder woman!

 

Poor Grant was ill after being in the snows for a week. It was hard to leave the delicious food and company but I left to spend midnight with him. 

We tried to see the fireworks from Primrose Hill since it was close to home. We realised when we got there that hundreds of people had the same idea. 

Sadly it was a misguided one because as you can see, or rather not-the Thames fireworks are too low.

This is midnight and everyone was waiting with anticipation to only see faint flashes of colour. The only fireworks were the ones lit locally. 

In the early hours of the morning, we heard a guy emptying his stomach into our garden. So lesson learned, never step outside for new years eve.

Happy new year everyone!