Aye aye Unbezzers! After almost 2 weeks in France, I'm finally on top of things enough to post an update. here goes: After a few false starts and changes of plan, my girlfriend Kyla and I have embarked on our season. What we have is accomodation for five months in Brides-les-Bains and enough cash to cover a season pass. What we don't have are jobs, or any idea what we are in store for. How easily can you find work in what is essentially a French spa town, worlds away from the uber-resorts further up the hill? Is it better to do it this way than to go with an established travel operator, employment taken care of beforehand? Will having to take a 25 min gondola every morning just to reach the foot of the slopes eventually piss us off? We'll soon find out....
After a four-hour wait at Geneva airport, we joined dozens of other seasonaire-looking types on an extortionate bus ride to Moutiers, the main town below Les Trois Vallees. Upon arrival it became clear that, of all the passengers, we were the only two souls bound for Brides-les-Bains. As the others peeled off for buses to Meribel, Courchevel and the like, we alone got shuttled up the road in a people carrier and unceremoniously dumped at our building.
After arriving at the deserted residence Cybele and finding our room, we headed straight out to find some food. This was easier said than done: Brides-les-Bains in early December would remind one of Aviemore in the aftermath of a plague, if only it were bigger. And a bit busier. The gondola doesn't open until the 19th December, so most places don't begin trading before then. With the Spar closed and no pizza a emporter in sight, we retired to the only pub that appeared to be open, and chinned a few demis with paprika Pringles on the side. La Parisienne is now our regular watering hole, and where we go to find a friendly face and a bit more advice on how to go about doing a season in Brides-les-Bains.
The focus right now is to find jobs, so as yet we've had no time on the hill. There's not much snow right now so it's not the end of the world. Two days ago a friend of ours drove us up to Meribel to search for work up there. With it apparently being easy to hitch-hike back to Brides, even in the dead of night, we thought it might be worth a shot. A few enquiries later and it looked like there was nothing going. Neither of us were that bothered though: the commute would have been a pain, and even at this early stage the place already resembles a cross between the Big Brother house and a Marc Frank Montoya lookalike contest.
We'd rather hold out for something in Brides, and we're cautiously optimistic: every day sees a handful more people in the town, maybe another shop preparing to open. By the 19th, when the gondola opens and the place really comes alive, we hope to have something in place. Until then, we're happy enough taking in the amazing scenery among some of the friendliest people we've met. I just have to make sure i don't think too much about how people back home have been up the Cairngorms already while our boards gather dust out here....
Duthie
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