Here's another cute photo

Look at that handsome man! Look at those lovely girls! Go "ooo" and "ahhh" at those matching pink snowsuits!

Yes, we've just been in the mountains for a holiday. You see that patch of snow there? It's about all the snow there is left in the Alps after the mildest winter for a gazillion years.

Notice how both girls are not wearing gloves. I got told off by two sets of cross-country skiers about this. (Maybe they were feeling crabby because of the lack of snow.) For the record, I do try and make them wear gloves, but they always get removed within a few minutes and after that I give up. Perhaps the reason they always have colds is because they are permanently underdressed.

All this mountain heartiness has made me feel a bit more upbeat in my soul, and I have a date with a new English-speaking Mum's group on Wednesday. I will let you know how it goes.

Bellies and bambi

Let's talk about sport.

One of my rash, regrettable New Year's resolutions (aren't they all) was to run the Lausanne 20km in April. That's right: t-t-t-t-t-wenty k-k-k-k-k-ilometres. My reasoning was thus: I've done the 10km twice now (yes I am showing off) and it's good to aim high.

Things have got off to a good start. Early on Saturday mornings I go running in a lovely bit of forest just north of the city. Huge, cool pine trees, mossy banks, tiny, trickling streams, it is totally deserted apart from the occasional deer peeking out between the branches. And being Switzerland, it is replete with well-signposted, immaculately-maintained running track. Just an hour in this glorious wilderness cheers me up no end and I look forward to my date with Bambi all week.

There is one problem. One run a week of 7.5km (it takes me a laughable 51 minutes) will not make me fit enough for the twenty. Not to mention the toneless tummy that wobbles and bounces and frankly ruins my aerodynamics. Time to crank up the training.

My other New Year's Resolution was to get rid of the Easyjet orange template. One out of three...

Poor diddums

There are some days when I look at the lake and the mountains and think "Wow! Lucky me! Isn't this terrific!", and there are other days when I would give anything to be sitting in the Gordon Bennett sipping a warm lager shandy and watching hoodies assault each other on a plastic-bag strewn Tooting High Street.

The friends hunt has still not yielded any results. There was promise with a nice Australian lady who lives around the corner - but she has had the nerve to go back to Australia. Doesn't she know about the drought, that she'll be forced to drink recycled sewage? So what if you can't get Vegemite here?

The girls are both poorly with ear infections and strep throat. The bad news: forcing them to take medicine three times a day (it's banana-flavoured and smells yum, but still, they hate it.) The good news: they both sleep a lot more. Yippee!

And it's raining.

No friends; in quarantine; raining.

Someone pass me a violin, now.