I think I’ve mentioned in the past that in Switzerland the annual winter half-term break – the Winterferien or semaine blanche – is basically meant for skiing or snowboarding. Or sledging, I suppose.
The canton of Neuchatel has its Republic Day on March 1st, so the holiday week always falls to include this day (other cantons have theirs sometime earlier in February). Frankly, with the shifting seasons, this is starting to feel a little late – snow is far from guaranteed, these days, at this time of year, and this winter season turned out to be exceptionally dry in the Alps.
We felt really lucky that the weekend before our holidays started we received a smallish dump of snow. It always makes a difference to see snow in the trees.
Soon afterwards the sun came out, and stayed with us all week. Some mornings I went up early, on my own, so I could get some work done in the afternoons.
Other days I went up with our younger two kids, who have both now far surpassed my own ability on a snowboard.
Our eldest didn’t have last week off – his second semester at EPFL has kicked in with a vengeance – but he did come up with us for the weekend, at least.
The Patrouille Suisse were practicing quite a bit, during the week. I didn’t see them, but did hear them and see their contrails.
I also ended up hanging out with Daisy, our puppy, quite a bit… here we went snowshoeing together.
We also had a favourite spot where we relaxed, in the sun but protected from the wind. The local hotel/restaurant has set up a number of cabanas overlooking the snow park.
As we were taking turns puppy-sitting, I often took the opportunity to sit with her and read a very interesting book on psychogeography.
When the kids did show up between slopes, Daisy would go wild.
Back to reality, this week has been quite busy: aside from being busy with our annual performance management process, we have a Dynamo Office Hours session on Thursday while on Friday I’ll be presenting a generative design session for a Hong Kong Construction Industry Council Master Class on AI.
I’ve also booked my travel to join the upcoming APS Sustainability Accelerator in Copenhagen: I’ll be there from the Sunday night to Thursday lunchtime. Looking forward to seeing some of you there!
