Decisions, decisions

[nineveh_uk]

Just talking aloud, really. More interesting LJ posts will resume, I promise!

The ski holiday company have informed me that the holiday I’d expressed an interest in won’t run due to lack of take up. This isn’t a complete surprise, as it’s at the end of the (British) season, and they’ve told me in time that I can make alternative arrangements if I want to. Which is a question...

When this was a theoretical issue I gave it some thought, and decided that I would damn well go skiing this year regardless, even if it meant a week in (Finnish) Lapland on my own. Now it’s concrete, the question is inevitably less straightforward. I’ve ruled out guided holiday alternatives on grounds of cost and (in one case) location. I could go alpine skiing, except I’d rather go cross-country, and anyway, alpine presents exactly the same question as to whether I actually want to stay on my own in a hotel for a week. On the other hand, not going has the definite downside of not going. There’s always a weekend in Scotland, but it’s not exactly guaranteed snow.
Of course, it would help if I weren’t great and being enthusiastic about things in the abstract, and then got worried when things get more concrete. Anyway, I shall think about it and try to decide what I want to do, and which decision will make me happier to have made (the “leave the shop without it and see how you feel/buy it you can take it back” method of determining this works very well for clothes, but is less useful for other things!).

Meanwhile back on the treadmill my cold has receded, but I have spent the day smelling a mix of phantom smells thanks to catarrh. I was puzzled even while dreaming as to why on earth I was dreaming I was at a tobacco trade fair trying to persuade people to eat tobacco-flavoured sweets instead as less bad for their health. It turned out that when I woke up it was to a strangely powerful smell of tobacco smoke. Other features of the day have been liquorice (the office) and aerosols (a meeting room). However it seems to have been receding this afternoon, which is all to the good.

*I could go self-catering, but then I might end not talking to anyone for a week.

Comments

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

Single place in a catered chalet? Not sure whether being on your own in a whole hotel is better or worse than being on your own in a group of eight or so others, though - would depend on who the others were and whether they knew each other.

Or go self-catering and then do something when you get there that would require talking (e.g. lessons in a particular skill, hiring a guide for a day etc.)?

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Catered chalet might work for an alpine option (conversation over dinner, though quite a proportion of alpine skiers are not exactly my natural comrades), but I think I really want to go XC. If I do go XC on my own, I will definitely do something that requires talking regardless of where I stay - guided snowshoe, or a downhill lesson or similar.

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

Ah, I didn't know whether there was an equivalent of the catered chalet for cross country areas.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Not really, it tends to be quite a different market. Chalets are predominantly a French alps thing, though you do get them elsewhere, and being aimed largely at the British market, located in predominantly downhill rather than cross-country resorts (the dedicated British XC market is very small). There is some overlap, but the alpine XC areas will by and large not be running by the time I am able to go, and the Scandinavian market doesn't really do chalets. It is a pity, though, as I'd be quite happy to ski alone during the day and have a casual chat in the evening.

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

Huh. I thought I was the only one who got phantom smells after a cold.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I used to get them before a cold.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Like an ominous odour of warning of the impending lurgy?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Yes ...

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Yuck! (And sympathy.)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks :-)

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I've never had them before, and that's how I'd like it to say! Very strange and annoying (though at least I know it's the cold, not something more serious).

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Could you join a cross-country skiing club that has an excursion at the relevant time? You could make a big song and dance about how much work you brought with you and escape if you're not enjoying hanging out with them when off-trail.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Alas, the south of England is rather short on cross-country skiing clubs (the entire UK squad belongs to a small club just NE of Aberdeen). That said, your comment reminded me to check the London club (they are keen on roller skiing), which reminded me that Snowsport England's skills development week is an option, and on looking it up it happens to be the one I've marked in my diary. So that's something else to add for consideration, though the location is the one above I'm not desperately keen on for various reasons. Ironically, I'd quite like to ski alone and chat in the evenings!