Drama at Panorama!

Friday brought many surprises and gossip to Panorama.

I was having lunch at the Picnic Deli with four other girls (Hayley, Emma, Olivia and Jane) we were talking about all sorts of things from work, shopping, weddings to the painful process of learning to snowboard. And then all of a sudden a snowmobile comes flying off the mountain and into the Picnic Deli! Smashing the windows and startling everyone. I panicked because Aaron was just scraping ice off the Deli paths right where the snow mobile crashed but thankfully he and his partner had moved on from there. PHEW!  Amazingly, no one got hurt. The snowmobile crashed into the front counter, narrowly missing a customer and the waitress. The waitress got bumped by one of the falling display cabinets and was hit with shards of glass but was otherwise ok. The snow mobile came all the way down the mountain, through the chair lifts where about 50 ski tournament kids were lining up having just finished lunch, over the pathway, through the trees and didn't hit anyone! A miracle! The driver had been bucked off up the mountain as he turned the snow mobile on and it was locked in full throttle for some bizarre reason.

Unfortunately it was the only time I did not have my camera on me but I have a photo of afterwards where a plank of wood is now covering the bare wall. Just letting you all know that the Deli connects to my restaurant, Wildfire.

To add to the drama we wandered on down to the General Store to get some chocolate...mmmm! And there was an ambulance and fire truck parked out the front. We walked in and there was a girl lying on the floor in the recovery position with all these people around her. I bumped into Dane who was the guy we caught the Greyhound bus from Calgary with and it was his Mrs, Gina, who had taken a fall in the guttering at the front door! She had broke her tooth and broke her knuckle! Ouch! So slippery here with the snow!

It has started to get warmer with -6 degrees today. So all the snow is losing its fluffiness and turning icey so everyone is falling over. I made the mistake of wacking my boots together to get the snow off and took myself out but I am ok! No broken teeth thank goodness!

The free shuttle to Invermere starts tomorrow and I am SO excited! Now I can go down whenever I want yay! I am a little bored sitting in the loft all day. There isn't much to do until the season starts.. I have to go pick up my work pants which I had taken up. Love being short... I wonder how much that will cost me??

Aaron got the flu Friday night poor bugger. He had hot and cold flushes and had the shakes.. So I bought him some good cold and flu drugs and sent him to bed with some water. Then I played some drinking card games and went out to the T-Bar again! What a good fiance...! He still wasn't feeling very well the next day so took the day off work. Aaron is at work today though. He just text me and has numb toes again but he is going to try the bean bags we bought so hopefully they will warm his feet up for the afternoon.

So I forgot to update you all on my chat with Nicole about joining an ice hockey team. She said that it was more serious than she expected and didn't end up signing up. She recommended waiting for Windermere lake to freeze over and the town organises lots of events down there like ice skating, ice hockey and all sorts. Aaron and I found a second hand shop in town where we can get ice skates so we might just do that!

Snowboarding - Take 1

The slope was open for staff today for 1hr over lunch. This slope was way too steep and scary for my first go so I convinced Aaron to begin on the Silver Platter (very beginner.. probably 30 degree angle)

The first mission was working out how to get my boots on. There are so many straps! After 15mins of squeezing in and working out how to clip all the straps down we were off. The hike there was interesting as the boots go up to the back of your calves and are angled forwards so you cannot straighten your legs. I felt like the boys at Moto X with their boots on.. 10minutes of awkward walking and we were at the Silver Platter. We hooked our boots into our bindings (another mission that Aaron had to assist me with) Finally I was standing! And moving! AAAAAH! How do I stop?! And then I ate snow... lots and lots of snow.. I lost count of the amount of times I fell over but the best one was when I tried to stop which is where you turn your board so you are facing down the mountain and you drive your heels into the snow. I failed at the driving of the heels part and catapoulted into the air like Evel Knievel and landed on my stomach.. Not so fun.. But its ok we bought helmets this morning so we were fine. 40% off for staff so Aaron and I got both our helmets for $160. Bargain! Aaron did well. Fell over a few times but no bruises. My knees copped a beating but thats about it. It was -22 degrees and we managed to get icycles on our eyelashes on the walk home!

Aaron isn't enjoying working in these cold temperatures. His fingers and toes keep going numb and his heel went black yesterday!! But it has returned to its normal colour which is good. We went to Invermere in the afternoon and bought Aaron some quality boots that are graded for -30 degrees. They are also steel capped and we bought nice thick merino wool socks and these heated bean bag things that stay warm in your boots for up to 6hrs so hopefully when he goes back to work on Friday he will feel his toes ALL day long! He has today and tomorrow off so a few days to chill out inside which will be good.

I met my manager Scott and he doesn't know when I should start at Wildfire. Initially I was supposed to start 1st December but he said he wont need me then so I will be attending orientation on the 2nd and then I will just have to wait and see about a start date...

We went to T Bar last night for a few drinks to celebrate Charlie's 30th (we actually hadn't met her yet) It was pretty fun. I tried a beer called 'What the Huck' made with huckleberries. It was ok, a sweet beer. We met lots of new people. Our whole room was there, sadly four are leaving next week to their permanent residence above the Jackpine pub (Olivia, Jane, Emmett and Patrick) and we are getting a Canadian girl, a Swedish girl and two Aussie guys who arrive on Tuesday.