Thursday 21st Jan. Still not skiing!!!!! The shins are awful and I still cant get my boots on. Looks like I won't be skiing for the rest of the week. Better to rest them and get them sorted than ski on them and make them worse. Not much is happening during the days as there isn't much to do out in the sticks. Its ladies Night tonight so cheaper drinks but the girls look like alcoholics as the guys have cottoned on and get the girls to get them drinks. Very cheeky but brilliant idea!! There is supposed to be bingo tonight but some of the evening events don't happen and more than likely this one wont happen either. The big night is tomorrow - on the schedule it says rock band but they have changed it to T-Party (so come dressed in anything beginning with T) well no point in crossing fingers for skiing tomorrow as it seems unlikely i will get my boots on again. I may call it a week and just relax. Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Friday 22nd Jan. I just chilled today as the shins were still swollen and didn't want to attempt to get to the mountain only to be disappointed at not being able to put the boots on - so just stayed at the chalet and thought about what I would go as to the T-Party. My room mate Amy is going as a tribal woman - we are back combing her hair and putting loads of brown makeup all over her to look scraggy. Its going to be good. I am going as Top Gun as I have a t-shirt with it on. Just need to borrow some aviators off someone. Very simple and didn't have to go to Dollarama to get an outfit. (dollarama is the best store ever - it have everything under one roof - Brilliant!!!!) Its almost party time. Nothing is happening this weekend - I may go to the spa and sit in the hot tub for a while and chill. Next weekend is Quebec City!!! Lots of Love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Saturday 23rd / Sunday 24th Jan. Nothing really happened this weekend everyone was pretty dead after Friday night. Lots of drinking had by all so saturday was a recovery day and indeed the hot tub was the place to be. Sunday was a movie and sweats day - nothing but movie after movie - good times!!!!!! The shins are feeling much better and hopefully I will be able to do half a day on Monday - Start crossing your fingers again!!!!! Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Monday 25th Jan. Boots are on!!!!!!!!! Woohoo - Half a day skiing in!!!! Very good times!!! I have been put in the bottom group as I have not been skiing which is absolutely fine with me as I can kind of start from scratch!!! We are being taught how to ski the canadian way - so its easier to get the level 1. The lesson was all about Stance and Balance - if you get this right then the rest is pretty easy - BUT you have to adapt this for different terrains and the difficulty i am having with mine when we go on steeper runs is I tend to lean into the hill when I should be leaning down the hill (but the steeper it is the scarier it is to lean down the hill - i feel i am about to fall down head first. not good) Lunch time came after a good morning. Even though the shins weren't really sore I knew I shouldn't go out - so I called it a day and my instructor agreed. But he also said he has never seen shin splints like it - not a good sign. Dart Tournament tonight - but it wont be happening as the dart board has fallen off the wall. So they will probably do a pool tournament or something close to that effect. Lets hope I can have another successful day tomorrow! Lots of Love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tuesday 26th Jan. Yes Skiing again. Another half day but I was struggling by lunch time. So definitely called it a day. The skiing was just like yesterday - lots of working on the technique and concentrating on what is needed / expected for the level 1 - I asked my instructor today when our group was likely to get chosen for the level 1 exam and he said not for another week. Not too bad! Its the SLGHL (Ski Le Gap Hockey League) practice games tonight good fun - the rules are: each team has to have a least 1 girl on the pitch at all times. I am in a team with my room mate Milly and 4 other guys - Marcus, Dan, Luke and Max. Should be very funny - there is a little pitch outside the chalet its ice but with a dusting of snow for a little bit of grip - lets hope I don't fall and give myself anymore bruises. And lets hope I can ski again tomorrow boohoo!! Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wednesday 27th Jan. OH NO..… The boots wouldn't go on!!!!!! this is not cool. 2 half days and now i'm out again. Will the shins ever get better?!?!?!? The hockey was good fun last night though - fell over a couple of times but its was't sore or anything. Very entertaining. We were playing the Mighty Meerkats - very competitive (no fun in their game what so ever!) so we got beat 6-0 not good but thank goodness it was just a practice. the real thing starts next wednesday (every wednesday). On the itinerary it says there is a bonfire tonight but no one has mentioned anything about it - so my guess is its not happening. I wonder if i'll be able to get my boots on tomorrow - it would be good to get 3 half days in this week (as we only have 4 days skiing because we are going to Quebec City on Friday morning) so 3 mornings out of 4 would be a good amount I think. Fingers crossed! Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thursday 28th Jan. Unsuccessful AGAIN! Went to the mountain to attempt to put my boots on - didn't happen but I thought outside the box before I left the chalet and took my spa stuff with me just incase but the spar doesn't open until 11am so off to the Juice bar - I spent an hour and a half in the juice bar chatting to the lady - Sophie - about the gap and how everyone from the gap goes into the store (it is a yummy place to get smoothies) They make me special ones as most of them have bananas in (allergic) so they mix and match ingredients. Very special!!!!! At about 11.15 I went to the spa and chilling in the two hot tubs for about an hour / hour and a half then trundled back to the gap for some lunch and to chill for the rest of the afternoon. Its karaoke tonight (never done it before and never will) so i'm hoping i can escape some where so i don't have to sing. Off to Quebec in the morning - good fun but a long trip on the bus - a good 4 hours on a yellow american school bus - very cramped. oh well thank god for iPods!!!! Will report back after the weekend. Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Friday 29th / Saturday 30th / Sunday 31st. QUEBEC CITY!!!! the bus journey began at about 9.30 (we were on the early bus but it didn't leave until the late but was ready so we were stuck on the bus for about 30 / 40 mins. Not a good start as it was really cold on the bus - so cold infect that ice was forming on the windows inside the bus!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!????!!!!! Eventually we got going. The iPod was plugged in immediately. Both buses reached McDonalds about 12.30 - it must have been the best taking of the year as 106 people tipped up all wanting meals. All ate the yumminess that is Maccie D's and piled back on the freezing bus for another couple of hours. Eventually got to Quebec City about 4.30 and had an hour to unpack, make beds and have a quick explore until dinner. After dinner we had to pile back on the bus to go tubbing!!! VERY GOOD FUN!!!! We were told it would take 15 minutes to get to the tubbing place but we had a bus driver who didn't know where he was going and ended up getting lost and took us an hour to eventually reach our destination. Salopettes on, jackets on, goggles on and a big rubber ring in tow. LETS GO TUBBING. The best thing in the world - so much fun. There are loads of slopes all over a hill and you twist each others handles together so you can all go down the slope. There was a big round raft - like a life boat that fits about 15 people in and spun around loads (there is a video) and another raft that looks like a rib that fit about 12 people in and shot down a few bumps (which made you fly off your seat - poor becky almost had her arm ripped off i was grabbing hold so much!) there is also a video of about 8 of us going down what could be described as a big half pipe (probably the best one!) the last run consisted of about 20 of us one behind the other holding on to eat others feet snaking down and gaining loads of speed! Even though it was freezing it was an amazing night! loads of photos! Saturday was ours to do what we wanted. As there was a winter festival just starting we attempted to enter it but it was freezing and not everything was set up so we weren't getting value for money so we headed for the malls - indoor, warm and everything under one roof! Had our first chinese of the trip from the food hall - yum yum yum yum yum!!!!!!! had a little dilemma as Amy and I had only bought one change of clothes for the entire weekend and we were all going out to a club tonight (saturday) I needed an outfit QUICK! dived into H&M and found a very cute top in the sales (size 16 but looked really good baggy) and a little jacket. Outfit was a success! We all trundled back to the hostel to get fed, washed and dressed ready for the party! Upon entering the club we had special permission to jump the queue as we were a big party of 101 (the other 5 were staff and didn't come to play) once in the club some people went wild and bought bottles of champagne and bottles of vodka with mixers. Good sensible Milly and I bought 2 large drinks and didn't need anything else for the rest of the night! Good times! I was accosted by Hamish (one of the gappers) who picked me up and put me on a podium on the dance floor - which was cool at first but then people started to push etc and i thought i was going to fall so off the podium and back on the dance floor - but spotted a couple of gappers on the balcony near the VIP area and so a group of us ventured up away from the mass crowds. Party time continued on the balcony but because we arrived at the club so early (9.15) by 12.30 / 1 we were bored and ready to go back to the hostel. So we ventured out into minus temperatures and hailed a cab to get back home! Sunday for some was a day of recovery as we were travelling back to the gap. Left quebec at about 11am and stopped at McDonalds again - only tis time me and amy were starving and so got a normal meal and also got 6 nuggets each for the bus. Good move or bad we're not sure as at the time it was a brilliant idea but after about 3 nuggets we were regretting it. we arrived back at the gap just in time for dinner - roast (except we never have roast potatoes just mash - something wrong there). Looking forward to skiing tomorrow as the legs have had the biggest rest - hopefully will be be to have full days skiing! boohoo. Lots of Love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Monday 1st Feb. Boots are on and so are the skis!!!!!!!!!!! New instructor, new week - its looking good!!!! My instructor is really good - even though i'm in a group of about 6 people he always talks to us individually and gives us individual tasks as apposed to group exercises. Lunchtime the shins were fine - went out after lunch and did 3 more runs but they started niggling so called it a day. It was a very productive / successful skiing day! And the group only did 2 more runs after I left so I almost did a full day! Woohoo!!! There is a poker tournament on tonight but i think i will save my money. Maybe play a bit of pool (have a little tournament of our own)! Skiing again tomorrow yay! lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tuesday 2nd Feb. Boots are just about fitting. I underestimated the amount of skiing yesterday. the boots are a little tight, I can do them up and they are comfortable but by the feel of them I wont be doing a whole day skiing - but thats not too bad - at least its two mornings in a row!!! I asked my instructor at lunch what the likelihood of being being put in for selection of friday would be. He told me I still needed to work on my stance and once that is good then I ready so tomorrow (wednesday) i am going to work real hard to get the stance right because I want my level 1!!!!! This evening was mountain first response (basically first aid for the mountain - what to do if someone injures themselves.) its was good as we learnt a lot but there is the practical at the weekend which should be good as you get to test out the equipment the patrol use to come and save you. Good fun!!! Skiing again tomorrow! woohoo!!! lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wednesday 3rd Feb. Still on the mountain! Great news!!! Still skiing - was able to get the technique right and was given a high five by my instructor woo!!!! obviously doing something right!!! skied just like monday - almost a full day which was brilliant! i loved it!! but this time I thought outside the box and iced the shins at lunchtime and when i got off the mountain. Just to be on the safe side!!! New Movie release today but it was rubbish so we just hung out in the bar and played some ping pong - little tournament created by ourselves!!! half way through the week and I've been skiing everyday - could i be getting better (even though i was told shin splints take months to fully recover! WHAT?!?!?!?) But hey half a day is better than no day! loving it!!!!!! and if i keep up with the stance etc then i can go for selection on friday!!! woohoo times a million!!!! Mentor night tomorrow and it has a theme of Hula and ice hockey! Off to dollarama to get hula skirts, lays and something for friday night as it is toga party - so little flowers and leaves for the hair band and some gold ribbon for the toga. lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thursday 4th Feb. Possibly one of the most mixed days i've had! Skiing was brilliant - still had the stance right which was good as it was selection on friday! managed to almost do a full days skiing only missed out on 2 runs. Which in the scheme of things was nothing!!!! everything was honky dory. Got back to the gap and started to feel a bit sick but thought nothing of it as i had just had some cookie and milk - thought it might be one too many. got everything ready for the mentor night. Met the group in the bar and off we went to Darryl's house - there is a lake behind his house which the community use to play ice hockey and use as an ice rink - so very safe. The plan was to play a game of hockey then get changed into hula stuff and have pizza. This was ok - played a good game of hockey, the team i was in won 10-6 (i scored 2 goals! big cheer!!!) after that i was getting quite cold so thank goodness we were heading inside. got changed but couldn't warm up - ended up lying on the sofa with a blanket whilst people played drinking games. The food came and I couldn't even stomach half a slice - thought i was going to throw up. Apparently all my colour went and i looked really pale (which is quite hard for me as i am really pasty anyway!) Ended up ordering a taxi early to take me back to the gap and had to go straight to bed. Then in the idle of the night i threw up! NOT A GOOD SIGN!!!!! Thought i would wait and see how i was in the morning as i had selection and really didn't want to miss it. You can so see where this is heading. lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Friday 5th Feb. Why me?!?! Just as my skiing gets better and my shins are fine I go and get sick. No idea what it is but i keep throwing up and have no energy. Practically spend the day in bed. Tried to eat something in the evening but ended up being taken to the pharmacy to get some tablets. Explained to the pharmacist what was going on and she gave me sinus relief tablets, throat sweets and some sickness pills (which were effectively travel sickness pills - weird i know!) this did not help as throughout the night i was constantly being sick and missed out on the toga party. All in all a pretty crappy day as i missed selection too and there was no way i could do the mountain first response at the weekend. Not impressed. lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Saturday 6th / sunday 7th Feb. Clinic time. Saturday morning tried to have some toast but threw up twice in the space of 10 minutes. I was taken to the clinic by one of the residents and Ali (bless who really looked after me!) but when we got there they said there wasn't a doctor available until at least 11.30 or if someone has a accident on the mountain. WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?!?! so back to the gap and waited an hour or so and then went back to the clinic with Ali - was told by the doctor i had a severe case of Sinusitis and i would have to take a break from skiing for another week! (YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!! I must have the worst luck on this trip ever!!!) Oh and prescribed me 2 weeks worth of antibiotics. With this bad news it was off to Saint-Jovite to the pharmacy again to get my prescription when she handed me the bottle the tablets were HUGE!!!!! back to the gap. Just spent the rest of the day in bed until dinner time. tried to have some toast and take the tablet - it was so big i decided to break it in two - bad move. They tasted just like paracetamol - GROSS and they started to dissolve in my mouth. Swallowed it but threw it straight back up. I needed to come up with a device to hide the taste. Maybe in the morning. Sunday came and I was still being sick. I had no energy whatsoever as i had not eaten properly since thursday lunchtime. Luckily at breakfast i was able to have a piece of toast - and i found a way to disguise the tablets. Cover it in raspberry jam!!!! It works like a treat! Amazing. BUT i still had 14 days left and they had to be taken twice a day with food. Sunday night i managed to have a bit of roast - tiny bit of lamb, mashed potatoes and some carrots. Lucky for me the carrots didn't make an appearance. Wasn't really looking forward to another week off skiing but hey what could i do?!?! lots of love. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Monday 8th Feb. The start of a very funny week! The day started off as the same old day of not skiing chilled in my room for a while but after lunch there was a surprise. My room mate Smoggy (Amy) came hobbling in on crutches. She had fallen and torn a ligament in her knee and couldn't move it. She was told by the doctor to not ski / put any weight on it for at least 10 - 14 days. Not good! And so the week began. We chilled for the afternoon. Went down for cookies at 3.30 but found out she needed spikes on her crutches and she kept slipping on the snow. luckily she had purchased some we just needed a screwdriver. Nothing exciting happened in the evenings as I was still weak from not eating loads and Smoggy couldn't really get about so it was chill in the room and ended up going to bed early. lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tuesday 9th Feb. Movie Marathon. The day started by me going to breakfast with a food order from Smoggy - bacon sandwich with ketchup!!! Also i knew we weren't going to venture from the room as she was practically immobile so I bought up a fruit bag for us each and a kitkat for Smoggy (a treat as i had to swipe it pretty fast from the chocolate bowl in the kitchen) This was the beginning of my carer week. Just walking about 100 meters to the restaurant was a struggle for her so we tried to stay in the room as much as possible. We also found a website where you can watch movies for free - even ones that have just come out! So we watched The Proposal (very cute film and funny!) first then Couples Retreat - funny but not until later in the film and then The Hangover - very funny!!!! this practically took up the whole day and by the time the hangover had finished it was cookie time! We bimbled down and chilled for about an hour, then hobbled back up to the chalet until dinner - but we have to leave 15 before everyone else so Smoggy doesn't get crushed in the crowds. I was possibly the best carer in the world - Got drinks, cutlery and her food. Then cleared it all up ready for the trek back to the room. Nothing happened that night - didn't even go down to the bar, just chilled. lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wednesday 10th Feb. More Movies. Same routine as tuesday - same food order but this time there were no kitkats only aeros. More movies were watched this time it was P.S I Love you (an ok movie) and First Wives Club - good classic movie!!!!!! the days were just passed by movie watching. In the evening we ventured down to the bar and chilled for a little bit - no alcohol for eight of us as i was on antibiotics and smoggy was on crutches (not a good combination). lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thursday 11th Feb. Poem writing and ideas. One of the girls - Harriet wanted us to write her a poem as we were off. This practically took all afternoon. It wasn't a poem as such more like a limerick about her time at the gap. Very funny and she laughed when she got back from skiing and then wanted us to write her a love poem for friday. But more importantly we had to think about our costumes for the party on friday night. Robots and Hobots. We knew Dollarama would be the place to shop its just what we needed that needed some thinking over. The design phase had begun. lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Friday 12th Feb. Elmotron and Smogbot!!! The morning routine was normal once i came back from breakfast me and smoggy started the designing of our robot outfits. All the research took us to boxes but we didn't fancy spending the night in a box. So we decided we could utilise the boxes and cut them up. Materials needs : Cardboard boxes, Tinfoil, neon glowsticks / bracelets and paint. All could be found in Dollarama! Hells yeah! (pictures of the final costumes are up!) off we trundled to saint-jovite to dollarama and on the way back we popped into mcdonalds for lunch. As soon as we got back at about 12.30 we started cutting up the cardboard boxes. Serious arts and crafts afternoon! Good times. I bet you are wondering what elmotron and smogbot are. Well everyone thinks i laugh like "tickle me elmo" and so my nickname is elmo. So my robot was called elmotron (as i had the decepticons sign on the back of my costume - decepticons are from transformers.) But after about an hour in the costumes they were getting a bit uncomfortable so we took them off and got changed into normal clothes. Everyone said we had the best costumes! look at the pictures and judge for yourselves!!!! Ottawa tomorrow - should be really good we are planning on going to the mall and getting smoggy a wheelchair so she can go round all the shops and not get tired and we are going to get her a toboggan so we can pull her on the ice when we go ice skating! Brilliant!!! But not so brilliant - we are staying in an old jail that is haunted - yikes!!!! lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Saturday 13th / Sunday 14th Feb. OTTAWA WINTER FESTIVAL! We set off early and smoggy and i went in the mini bus as she needed space for her leg. We went to a coffee house so jason could get his coffee fix so i took full advantage and asked if he could order me one too. Just a Mocha but I had to repeat myself about 5 times before he understood me. They don't call it a mocha out here its a 'mohkah' thats how they pronounce it. WHAT THE?!?!?!?! so funny. The journey only lasted a couple of hours but we had to go the back roads as it was quicker but the roads were so twisty. Once we were there we had to go to our "cells" and unpack etc. so not the word to make you feel comfortable. The jail is one of the oldest in canada and it only shut as a jail in 1972 for sanitary reasons and opened a year later as a hostel. They had a death row on the 8th floor - if you are able to stay on death row for a night then you get the stay for free. Luckily we were on floor four (1st floor from reception) cause smoggy couldn't get up loads of steps. We had 6 people in our cell but it was 2 cells knocked into two (pictures available). not spacious at all. I didn't really feel comfortable but i don't know if it was physiological or something wasn't right. weird! Lunch time was in order and we found a grill and munched on Ribs and chips! very good - it was one of our friends birthday - Dan so we got him a dessert and sang happy birthday in the restaurant and other people joined in - very cute!!. After that we headed for the longest ice rink (a canal about 6km long) but when we got there it was packed and smoggy was getting tired on the crutches so we headed for the mall and quickly got her a wheelchair! This was the point where i must have been the fastest customer the Apple store has ever seen. I knew what i wanted and found an assistant and bought my new laptop - MacBook Air and walked out within 10 minutes. Brilliant! BEST PURCHASE EVER! we only really had an hour in the mall as dinner was at 5.30 sharp. Dilema at dinner - i hadn't bought any jam with me for my tablets - what the hell was i going to use. Took the cheese off the top of the pizza and smothered the tablet in tomato sauce from the pizza but i didn't have water only had coke - surely that would dissolve it faster?!?! NOOOOOO! had to take it really fast before it started to dissolve and go gross. Almost became a situation! but managed to have it! phew!!!! We could do whatever we wanted in the evening - loads of people wanted to go to the comedy club but Milly - my other room mate didn't fancy going out so we decided to stay and watch the Olympics on the TV. Smoggy attempted to get up to the room but couldn't as her normal leg was hurting from walking so much so two spectators became three. The more the merrier. half way through the hockey i kept hearing a noise that didn't sound good - unfortunately for Milly she was made to go and check it out as i am a whimp! embarrassingly on my part it was Tim (another gapper) trying to put all his change in the vender machine to get a drink. At this point Tim joined in the viewing of the olympics but continued to take the 'mik' as i thought he was a ghost! But you could tell we were all the oldies watching the TV because as it got to 11.30 the end of the women's freestyle moguls we were all falling asleep! very funny. Sunday came and most of us wanted to go back to the mall to do some more shopping. Out came the wheelchair again. lots of shopping was had by all. I purchased a new purse - more grown up and lady like and I thought i should treat myself as i hadn't spent any money in the past 3 weeks. Probably one of the best stores ever - Coach (kates you should go on it! its really nice) Just after lunch Becky and I went to the ice sculpture section of the festival whilst everyone continued to shop! loads of photos were taken - they were the best sculptures i have ever seen. So much detail! Absolutely amazing!!!!! We had to be back ready for the buses at 4.30 to leave to go back to the gap. Eventually got back to the gap about 20 mins. before the big buses and had dinner - got the best pick as we were early! everyone was so tired after the long day its was a pretty chilled night - watched cool runnings and played on the new computer!!!! skiing again tomorrow! YAY finally - the legs are fine and the sinusitis is going woohoo!!!!! lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Monday 15th Feb. First day skiing. Washington Week - possibly the most annoying week in the world of skiers in canada!!! All americans get a week off (not to sure if it coincides with their half term but it does with english half term) and they all go skiing. Also the residents from quebec province got the day off "Family Day" have you ever heard of such absurdity?!?! so the slopes were packed. The gappers couldn't even go up the mountain together to drop our lunches off. Literally we just said we would see each other at the top and we had to go into the single riders queue - the fastest way to get up to the top. Skiing was ok the mooring was better than the afternoon. There had been a fresh dump of powder which caused loads of little bumps and moguls on the runs - not very good conditions to ski in especially as the slopes were so packed! My instructor doesn't give me the most amount of confidence as this week there aren't really any lessons just "Lets go on this run" and zooms down it and waits at the bottom - which i would love if i had my level 1 and i knew my stance / technique was perfect but its not. so no tuition really this week. In the afternoon we went on a run called "The Flying Mile" very steep and was full of clumps of fresh powder so very difficult to ski on. I fell and stabbed my thigh with the sharp end of my pole - not good as i now have a pole shaped bruise on my thigh - maybe pictures to come but its brewing as you read this. The shins are fine - but i had to call it a day after the fall as i found it difficult to put weight on my leg it was hurting that much. oh well they finished early anyway as there were too many people on the slopes. There was supposed to be a dart tournament on tonight but the dart board is still broken so that didn't happen and i was so tired from the skiing i passed out pretty early. More skiing tomorrow and the slopes will have been groomed so they will be much nicer to ski on and hopefully the slopes wont be as crowded as the canadians will all be back at work. lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tuesday 16th Feb. Good skiing but crap tuition. The slopes were really nice and the queues for the lifts and the slopes were much quieter than yesterday. But for some reason my instructor wanted to go down loads of black diamond routes - which are really steep. I don't have the confidence to go down them as my technique is to the standard to hoof it down the slopes. When i got to the bottom of one run - my group were waiting for me and when i told them they were all so fast - the instructor just imitated me but really badly and laughed and skied off to the lift. Not impressed by this i thought - pull out the shin card. They were starting to ache a little from all the steep runs but not enough to stop skiing for the afternoon. we had an hour to lunch so i said i was going in to ice them ready for skiing in the afternoon. However after talking to one of the girls in my group she told me once i was inside the instructor said to the group that "it was all in my head" (not the shins but not being able to go down the steep slopes - which i would agree with but why make me go down them if i don't have the confidence.) anyway after that i continued with the shin card and said i couldn't get my boots on so couldn't ski in the afternoon. All lies i just didn't want to ski with him. So about 10 minutes after everyone left i put my boots on and went out skiing by myself. I did runs i felt comfortable with and tried to concentrate on my stance / technique. I had a chilled afternoon and did three runs after lunch and on the final run i skied all the way down the mountain right down to where we store our boots and skies. very chilled - really enjoyed it!. I got off the slopes about an hour before everyone else - so i went to the general store for some cookies and juice whilst i waited for everyone to finish as i was walking back from the store I saw outside casey's (a bar/grill) that they were showing the men's olympic ice hockey at 6pm - quick thinking i took a note of this so when i got back to the chalet with everyone else and saw smoggy i suggested we go out for dinner and to watch the hockey. BRILLIANT IDEA!!!!! even though we had to wait about 30/40 minutes for a table but it was worth it. As i am still on antibiotics i'm not allowed to drink but out of the 5 of us that went three girls were having a good time with the cocktails. Poor dan was the only guy but its was really good. when we eventually got our table we were placed in a round booth with our own TV to watch the hockey - very cool. Me being the piggy i am ordered prawns and calamari for starter and being in canada the portions are huge - so i only ate half so i had room for my main. Ribs, Fries and "slaw" very good - the meat just melted off the bones!!! so good but as always the jeans had to be unbuttoned! after the waitress took our plates she asked if we wanted some pudding - now everyone who knows me knows i can't go to a restaurant and not have pudding (its the second stomach wanted to be fed with sweet food!) i wasn't the only one who wanted pudding Ali was adventurous too but we asked if we could leave it for about 15 mins before we order so we can let our food go down. 15 minutes wasn't enough as when the food came i was only able to eat the ice-cream and a couple of the apple slices. Ali on the other hand had ordered a piece of cake for the whole restaurant. It was massive!! thank god they bought more spoons. no words give it justice - you will have to look at the pictures!!!! The evening was brilliant - it was nice to have a different atmosphere and different food from the gap. A great night enjoyed by all!!!! More so becky as she got so drunk! lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx