Skiing and skydiving

Les Arcs 2000, January 2024

I'm still a bit childishly overexcited with all that's gone on since the last blog post, but let's start at the beginning. The first thing was a weekend Buddhist retreat for people who are part of small groups like ours. I always come away with new ideas and enthusiasm and this time was no exception, with the added complication that I'm pretty sure the decaffeinated tea was mislabelled. So: extra energy during the retreat, and a stonking caffeine withdrawal migraine on Tuesday.

I've been to see the parents two or three times, and the shower conversion has been started by very pleasant workmen. Mum had a nasty experience with pain followed by a trip to A&E - she rates paramedics very highly, A&E doctors not so much. But when I saw her this week she was dosed up and pain-free. We have the usual long list of jobs to be done - liaison with neighbours over garden fences, reliable carers to be found, a wound that needs to be reviewed by the GP... I was impressed by her stamina given that I can only be there for a few hours and we work pretty hard.

Then there was a week skiing in France with JW and JD and their son and his friends and our friends - we were a group of 9 altogether, and split up during the day mostly according to skiing ability and during the evening mostly according to age. We travelled by train - Eurostar and TGV - and funicular and bus, and the weather was sunny and dry except for one afternoon. The resort could do with a bit of fresh snow, but on the whole it was wonderful. I used my new hat with attached crocheted beard (thank you Lola II) and got no reaction from anyone. Perhaps it looked a bit too realistic.

On the day we came back there were UK rail strikes, so those trying to get back to Cambridge had a bit of trouble - two managed to find a train and a bus replacement service, two decided to stay in London for an extra night. Luckily I only had to go back to Lola II and Mr M's house, because the next day we had arranged to do Indoor Skydiving as part of Lola II's Belated Birthday Events, postponed from her actual birthday in 2020 due to Circumstances.

Indoor Skydiving is done in a large tube with a huge fan at the bottom blowing air upwards. We watched a very entertaining training video and signed a waiver beforehand, but any shoulder injury is enough to rule you out, so sadly Mr M with his frozen shoulder couldn't take part. Luckily he agreed to take pictures and video, so we have a wonderful record of what happened. There were six of us, and we were kitted out with helmet, goggles, flying suit and (optional) earplugs. Our instructor Ellie checked that we knew all the hand signals for straightening and bending our legs, keeping our chin up, and relaxing. Then we filed into the tube.

It was one of the most exciting and wonderful things I've ever done. Up to that point the closest thing to flying that I've done has been skiing, and we know that I have always wanted to fly - like a bird, not in a plane. Each of our two 'flights' were only one minute long, and some people had a bit of trouble getting their balance and needed a lot of support from the instructor, but watching the video back both Lola II and I were among the best. We both took the option of being taken up higher in the tube for the second flight, which seemingly had to be done by a different instructor.

As I'm writing this it's two days later and I'm still grinning from ear to ear whenever I think about it, and I've watched the video many times. Our nephew and his wife even signed up on the spot for a future flight, but I've had a look and there isn't a convenient option that's local to me. If Mr M's shoulder recovers and he wants to try it, Lola II and I will definitely join him, especially as they are very good at finding discounts to make it more affordable.