Back in paradise!

We had a very early start this morning to get to Heathrow in time, and then we found ourselves sitting on the runway in a stuffy plane with babies crying and people coughing around us for an hour and a half while they de-iced the plane. That was new to me, despite having flown in winter so often I have never encountered that before. Having missed breakfast I was dying for a cup of tea and British Airways have introduced a new system where you have to buy your food from a M&S menu. That's okay, except they only accept bank cards (no cash) so by the time the trolley got to us at the back of the plane it was time to land and they could no longer serve. A woman with two hungry children sitting behind us was furious - the staff told us to please complain as they also hate the new system but management won't listen to them, so customers need to complain about it.

It was grey and dull when we landed, and I was thinking it was no better than back home - but as we neared our village up in the mountains this is the stunning view that greeted us! Blue skies and plenty of snow. The extra photo shows the conditions when we drove up the valley from Zurich.

Just after we arrived at the apartment Luke and his friend arrived back from their day of skiing - they had a brilliant day doing back country skiing (hiking up the mountain and skiing down virgin slopes). Luke said he has never seen more perfect conditions for off piste skiing. As they are both qualified ski instructors they had their avalanche transceivers with them and knew what they were doing. As he skied back down to the village he got an email from Swiss Railway to say they have found his bag and it will be delivered to our village station at 4.30pm tomorrow - now that is wonderful Swiss efficiency! A perfect day for him.

Now we are all relaxing, the boys are watching the rugby match and we are about to eat bratwurst and rösti for supper.