A SNOWBOARDING MISFORTUNE

Limone, Italy (Nr. Nice)

If 28km of blue flashing lights was unnecessary, then the wheelchair, at Cuneo hospital seemed a complete over-reaction. After all, having fallen awkwardly snowboarding, I had carried on skiing down the mountain, caught a bus back to the hotel and we were about to board a train to Cuneo before 2 other guests came rushing up the platform calling us back to our hotel. On arrival 3 paramedics rushed in and wrapped a huge padded orange splint around my arm which looked like it had a small insect bite on the wrist. There followed a fantastic Keystone Cops comedy moment, as the 3 of them tried frantically to inflate the splint. With one working furiously on the pump which first fell to bits and then kept coming disconnected from the splint, the others took it in turns to adjust the valve. The net effect of much effort was zero but I told them my wrist was much more comfortable and they were all pleased with their work.

And our skiing holiday had started so badly. The previous day (our first) we reached the ski school (via a long gondola lift and walk down a piste) to be told that the beginners' snowboarding school was at the bottom of the mountain. To reach it we had to go up a long steep drag lift and back down the gondola. For Wendy, who had not snowboarded before, this was a dramatic introduction to the sport. After a 2 minute lesson and a couple of falls from the lift she started walking back up to the gondola. I got on the lift, went less distance than Wendy, fell off and jarred my back. Luckily the carabineri had seen our antics, were keen to get us off their mountain, and picked us up on a skidoo and deposited us at the lift.

Mid-afternoon lying on a stone wall by the nursery slopes trying to rest my back and knowing that a) our ski pass did not cover these slopes, b) they did not take cash and c) the bank fraud squad had put a stop on our cards I was already getting a feeling that this ski trip may not have been a great idea. But Wendy sorted the bank, I took a load of painkillers, and under the instruction of first me then Carlo, Wendy was doing linked turns in 3 hours snowboarding - a fantastic achievement.

Higher up the mountain the next day snowboarding was more difficult due to the hard, packed month old snow. I felt I was progressing well on the steeper slopes and it was while dawdling along trying to avoid a child on a gentle run that I caught an edge, fell suddenly on my bum, jarring my wrist. I knew immediately that it was at least a bad strain and said out loud to myself, "for you, ze snowboarding iz over" (I'm reading a book about an escaped WW2 P.O.W.).

I had said to Wendy before getting to Limone that even if I broke my wrist I would carry on cycling, but my plans were stopped by the plaster which extends to my shoulder. Still the service at the excellent Cuneo hospital was good. The ambulance picked us up at 6 and we returned by taxi to the hotel after a 56km round trip, x-ray and plastering at 8.15 just in time to have a meal then watch Arsenal thrash AC Milan.

And to watch the first snowfall for a month leave a thick soft covering all over the mountains...