they have all gone

Two weeks later and the rush of Christmas and New Year festivities seem months behind, the chalet is calm and guest free for a fortnight, save for four this weekend.  The weather has been pleasantly warm, though not good for the snow, so I have been out walking a fair amount as well as fitting in a fair amount of skiing.

Mark, the chef has headed north to see his brother for the week, he’s been ill for a while, but recovering now.  Louis, a Canadian helper who arrived well before Christmas has already gone, he stayed for the busyness of the festive period but decided that a whole season here without a ski pass wasn’t an attractive option, his traveling funds had dwindled much faster than he had originally thought and he couldn’t afford one, he’s headed to Ireland to stay with a girl he met and hopefully earn some money too.  

The day Louis left, Martin and Trudy, the other two helpers decided to leave too, they are an older couple and felt that the work schedule wasn’t allowing them to spend enough time together.  Thankfully they have offered to stay around until some replacements are found, though there is little to do during these quiet weeks.  They have a camper van outside that they are sleeping in and plan to stay around this and other resorts run by the same company for most of the season, so will no doubt see them from time to time.

It’s odd how each season is so different.  We already have one replacement arranged to arrive next week and another fairly soon afterwards.  The first possibility cancelled after confirming arrival next week due to a family related incident.and has decided not to arrive at all.  

With Mark away over the weekend I am excited to be working alone in the kitchen, I guess I shan’t be attempting the full menu but it’ll be great to see how well I cope if we get the usual number of diners at midday.  (Between 20 and 40 during the holidays.... eek).  I thought that I had been paying enough attention, but now that I start to think about how to prepare each and every dish, I doubt that it’s all properly logged in the old grey matter.  We’ll see how it goes soon enough.  Preparation is the key, will be peeling spuds this evening and frying off chips and chopping salad tomorrow morning.  

I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’s fairly busy and that the forecast snow arrives so that come Monday the mountain will be completely white again.