Evening all.
Today we went over to La Plagne to see what that's like. The answer is quite busy and full of skiers being directly in my way. We did get to ride the Vanoise express, which was surprisingly quick and underwhelming, and help a crying child who had fallen (and could not get up, despite all his crying).
There should be new rules for the piste, which include:
1. Do not stand in a line across the piste, especially where it is quite thin
2. Do not stand still on flat parts of the piste, as snowboarders cannot gain momentum in these areas
3. If you do need to teach people how to ski, use half the piste when "snaking" about, not the whole thing. Children will be maimed under our boards of steel.
4. If you want to stop lots, or ski in a group, don't do it on a thin, mogul-y black run!
There're probably more rules.
Felt a bit better this week. We're "owning" it more, and not stressing out too much. The benefits of experience. It'd be cool if people could come out to see us in this new year. Speaking of which, the New Year's "event" was a bit sporadic, rushed, unplanned, interspersed with the odd firework and rubbish. Had a few drinks though, which was nice.
Also, getting more bounce in my legs for moguls, and liking snowboarding generally. Fall down a lot less, and even when I do it seems to be pretty amusing.
I've taken fewer photos this week, and not uploaded any. So here's a photo of the one thing that gets me through most days, and makes me feel like Hawai'i even when surrounded by washing up and drudgery.
The buses actually say "aloha" when you're boarding, in a low, James Earl Jones style voice. Also, most people greet you similarly and some say "mahalo" to thank you. A large number of uniformed employees wear variations on Hawai'ian shirts, which is fun, and there're still a large number of leis handed out at the airport to arriving tourists. This is all fairly fun and as you would expect.
I flew into Oahu island, which contains Pearl Harbor, lots of restricted military areas and Waikiki beach. It also contains far too many people. Driving around the island is akin to a long scenic traffic jam. On some parts of Waikiki beach, sunbathers are laying in a grid pattern, like tents at an oversubscribed festival. Some of the hillside are beautiful and some have houses built all over them. If you take the walk up Diamond Head, which is an old volcano now containing a military base (not surprisingly) you can, at once, witness the beauty of the landscape and its subsequent overpopulation.
It's a holiday island, and as such is very laid back. Honolulu/Waikiki has a kind of '60s surfer vibe and the thumb-and-little-finger-outstretched-hand-symbol is often used. A common practice is renting Harley Davidsons, mopeds or bikes (which may or may not have surfboard holsters) and slowly driving around the congested streets with sunglasses on.
The flight to Hawai'i was very bumpy due to the massive Pacific ocean. The stay in Hawai'i was very stormy with huge thunderstorms that lasted all night; cataclysmic thunder and lightning abounds 
and the TV is often interrupted by flood warnings in the immediate area. One day I went out running for three hours, which I was quite impressed with. I took a large bottle of water and did laps of the park (which contained lots of association football playing and the remains of the gay pride parade). The parade itself was underwhelming, with only one "float" of negligible value, a couple of convertible mustangs, a roller derby team, some people with flags, some pro-gay heterosexuals (presumably for padding) and a single drag queen. Not really worth the wait/closing the road.
The island's military history was quite interesting and there was an a
rmy museum in an old gun emplacement next to the beach. Also went to Pearl Harbor, but failed to get there in time to take the free boat to the large white memorial banana. The buses on Oahu are cheap, and have bike racks on the front, but are almost impossibly slow. You have to be unemployed to have the time to catch on any distance. The memorial area seemed pretty well done though, although it ended up being a whistlestop tour. Many thanks to the man who looked after bags who gave me change for ten dollars. Tips for visiting the area (I think it's called USS Arizona) include: don't take a bag, it's not allowed in and you have to pay to have it stowed; 
go before 4pm to get the boat, and before 5pm when it all closes; and leave plenty of time to get the bus from Waikiki, but know you can take an additional free transfer on the buss within 2 hours of your original journey (if, indeed, it finishes within that time frame).
To surmise, Oahu was very cool, very stormy, very hot, very overcrowded, had loads of take-away food options (though no Dominos Pizza central to Waikiki) and was pretty beach/military orientated. I liked it, am glad I went, but don't feel a desperate need to return any time soon.
