Freezing fog everywhere; beautiful
Our Christmas holiday have
come to end and this morning we were busy packing up and moving our of our cosy
holiday nest. The very nice owners came to see us off and then we were on our
way to the first stop on the long journey home. St Moritz
kept to its promise of mostly sunshine and we only had one dull day out of the
nine spent in the Upper Engadine.
The drive over the Julier
pass was also in beautiful weather all the way to just outside of Chur at the
other side of the pass. There we lost the wall to wall blue skies and descended
into freezing fog that had cloaked all the trees with a magical white frosting
and that was also a special treat for the eyes.
On our way to the Mövenpick
Hotel in Egerkingen, we listened to our latest audio book. It’s a good few
years old but we have not read or listened to any of the Val MacDermid series
of books, The Wire in the Blood. I had read the first of the series and told
Steve all about it so we opted for this one that is the second in the series
but is a stand alone story to keep us occupied on the return journey.
Whilst we were in the last
week of our holiday Steve has been reading a book that was sent as a gift by a
friend in Naples, Florida. The title of the book is Find a Way
by Diane Nyad and has kept Steve nice and quiet and I will read it when Steve
has finished it. Then I suspect it will be loaned out to some of our swim
friends. It is all about her lifestyle and famous swims and swimming stories.
I have been reading a book
for children by David Walliams called The Midnight Gang that I have adored
reading and laughing at the delightful scribbly drawings by Tony Ross that help
bring the story to life. I would say it was more suitable for junior school children
but then I really loved it too. This David Walliams book will become a classic
I am sure, it has a sound story that holds the interest well and has all the
ingredients to engage our youngsters imaginations, it is funny, sad and a
little cruel and makes a point or two, it is also quite outrageous. Well done
David W. Good job.
I try to read all the major
books for children that come alone and read all of the Harry Potter series.
Before those I read Roald Dahl children’s books James and the Giant Peach, BFG
, Witches etc that were all excellent. I think we should all read the latest
books for kids to make sure we know who is filling the kids heads with what and
I think it helps us never to forget how to talk with children. As for me, I am
just a big kid anyway.
The other book I am nibbling
at is a Nietzsche paperback that I picked up after the haus tour and talk
morning in Sils Maria last week, I am just nibbling the edges, licking my lips
and flitting pages until I am in a more serious reading mode at home but a feel
a soft spot for the man and am finding it strongly and strangely appealing and
readable.
Then I have been trying to
get into the top selling Nora Roberts, Stars of Fortune part of The Guardians
Trilogy, at the moment I feel it is a bit chick-lit for my taste but I am
hoping it will get more solid soon, I’m only on 13% with my Kindle so will keep
on track. She is usually a great writer
and I loved House Rules, and Leaving Time early last year: 2016 is already last
year, goodness, weird isn’t it?
The second travel day was
through relentless freezing fog when the whole of Switzerland,
Germany and France was cloaked in the fairy tale white that
was breathtaking to see floating past the car window all the way to Reims where it is still that cold. Isn’t that just totally
unreal; and after the few quite warm days over Christmas itself.
As another more worrying
note we did not see any sign of a crackdown in border security. We did not see
a single guard on duty at either the Switzerland
to Germany crossing or the Germany to France border. Both just had cones
narrowing the road for a while but no barriers. Nobody was watching, let alone
looking at passports.
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