Today is the day.
I’m about to do something reckless again…
This time it’s… run a Ski chalet with the other half AND live with him. For almost six months.
So I will start this post with a nice helping of NEGATIVITY, and a side of PESSIMISM.
Its like this… We may kill each other! I may come home single! In fact, I kind of expect it, ha!
Why? Because running a chalet is intense. There are literally a million things that could test us…
If the cupboards are not organised in the way I like…
If I cant help but stir everything he’s trying to simmer (and I really cant)…
If we contradict each other in front of the guests…
If I annoy the hell out of him by tidying everything away while he’s trying to cook dinner…
If he makes the beds wrong…
If we argue about workload…
If he stocks the fridge weird…
If I burn the turkey…
If his crap is all over the apartment…
Waahh waahhh waahhh…!!
If you want to test any relationship, even a platonic one, do a season together!
So why do it, you ask?
Well, true to form.. I just sorta thought… meh, why not? Lets see what happens!
Pints to Posters..
So how did we get to this point?
After a summer of running bars (see last blog post), we decided to take a job together as travelling poster sellers.
Setting up and managing sales at universities and getting put up in hotels along the way.
If you’ve managed a busy bar, then you can manage a poster sale with your eyes shut.
So I went from festivals, to Freshers fairs!
It began as a temporary roll, lasting anything from 2-8 weeks, and it meant we would be together 24/7… big step!
But characteristically, another ‘why not’ moment.
Its been hard work
No seriously, we had about 2 ton of stock to manually load in and out at the beginning and end of every day…
Well I say ‘we’, but Harry has been the main muscles.
I’ve been Mrs admin!
Money counting feels GOOD.
Couldn’t resist!!
My other role was co-pilot, as me driving a huge van is a BAD IDEA.
My final contribution was to put the advertising out and take it in again every night. A most excellent use for my £20k advertising degree.
At times we’ve had to do outdoor sales, which have been bitterly cold and have meant consuming our body weight in tea.
Other times the early starts and rush hour traffic have been immensely frustrating.
And there has been many a flap and a bicker and a frowny face.
But overall it actually proved a great success!
The company seemed to love us and kept us on above all the other teams, and we’ve made a tasty amount of commission on top of our wages, whilst having all our living costs covered… FINANCIAL WIN.
Although, living out of hotels (no cooking facilities for three months) has meant a huge increase in my waistline.
We have eaten so much junk!
And so many bags of service station sweets to break up long journeys.
And we’ve eaten out so much! (I still never know what to get at Wagamama’s though).
Living in hotels together has not only increased our waistlines, but our ability to annoy each other more accurately and efficiently.
Oh, banter.
Its been fun to explore some of England’s cities too.
For example, we spent a rather enjoyable seven days in Beautiful Cambridge:
Well, it is beautiful, but it is also quite pretentious.
I fitted right in.
Our sale was right next to the hugely significant debating room at Cambridge, where the likes of Winston Churchill and Bill Gates have spoken:
We Couldn’t resist a sit in the debating throne (definitely its official name- Debatus Throneus).
Its been a good laugh, but with this job came the acceptance that summer was over.
So indeed, after an epic summer of holidays, festivals and a LOT of picnics (who doesn’t like picnics),
Autumn arrived
Autumn meant, when not working, lots of crisp autumn days on Harry’s farm…
Dog walking,
Cow cuddling,
Pizza making,
Horse stroking,
Haystack climbing,
And with this time of year comes that snuggly-bug evening of bonfire night:
Where we all pay 6 quid (and the rest) to stand in a field and watch crap fireworks.
And then stand behind a zealously distanced safety barrier with our over-priced cup of tea to watch creepy mannequins burn.
No, I enjoy it really. When not wondering when it will end so I can go home and enjoy a bubble bath and a cuppa.
I was a bit spoilt this year though, in addition to standing in a field with the other mugs, to have my own personal bonfire made for me by Harry.
It was all very romantic, after we he spent nearly an hour trying to light it that is.
Marshmellows, chocolate crumpets, melted starburst, smores… oh yes, there was no messing about where the snacks were concerned.
Anyway, all that passed, and then it was Harry’s birthday, which meant I no longer felt like a paedophile. (I jest, what is a few months).
The same day we arrived back at his to find birthday cake, we also found my Christmas present!
Why do I like this boy? Excellent Ebay skills.
I mean seriously, this is a great find.
Salivating at the thought of how ‘SICK BRUV’ I’m gunna be looking as I get run over by another chair lift or perhaps take out an entire ski school.
That, is a retrogasm!!
This autumn there have also been a few delightful nights out,
And I do mean a few, because these days I am pretty scared to drink, given that my body has decided to systematically reject alcohol (often projectiley) for the whole next day.
Yes, my 24th year has seen hangovers reach a whole new level of AGONY.
An excellent thing to happen just before a ski season!
But for me this year, I am planning mainly to focus on the skiing and on getting back in shape after a three month takeaway binge in various Travelodges.
Which are faceless, souless, pits of dispair where the bed sags, the internet costs £5 an hour, and they never give you enough toilet roll! After three months living in them….Not. A Fan.
Posters to Powder
So weve returned the van and our geeky t-shirts, and eaten our last takeaway…
And so, I’m off, to embark on another ill-thought out adventure that may well end in tears!
But even with that worse case scenario, I know it will still be epic.
Indeed, if last year is anything to go by, I’m about to have the time of my life!
It was just SO.GOOD.
And this is what my current destination looks like:
I am just itching to get out there and get stuck in!
I mean… I LOVE skiing, I LOVE being a chalet host, I LOVE the lifestyle, I LOVE the mountains… and this time I will have someone by my side to share it all with.
What better use of youth… than doing something you love, with someone you love.
In other words, here goes the next instalment of my Quarter-Life-Crisis… and I cannot WAIT!!!
Stay tuned for updates from France, and I’ll see you all in May.
xxxx
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