Yesterday the blue bells were magnificent. There is a walk from the Harrow pub in Steep to a woodland, where they carpet the ground under beech trees, adorned with fresh leaves.

Dinner in Clapham was a walk down memory lane, as it was a stone’s throw from where Anna went to school. Mrs Croquet, our host, had a big croquet match at Hurlingham the next day, so it was an early night. It is lovely to see the lawns in front of the club house alive with croquet in the summer.  In winter they use the cricket pitch out of the way.

The skiing season is well and truly over now.  Skis are stored away and now it is time for fun in the sun.

My skiing days have been over for a few years, due to an injury, but after we were married, we skied from time to time.

However, I had not skied in Australia apart from a very brief weekend in Thredbo. That was it.

The winter after we were married, Geoff and I were asked by the Scottish contingent, Ghislaine and Peter, Pippa and Michael and Emma, plus Jean (English) to join them in Verbier. I thought to myself, “Don’t worry, surely one weekend in Oz is enough to get me by.”

The Scots asked when we arrived whether I could ski. I said yes and the next morning after hiring our kit we headed to the Medran, where you are ferried up to the heights in cable cars. When in fact, I should have been heading to the beginners’ slopes. But, oh no, there was no way I was going to be separated from my new husband. 

So up we went, higher and higher. Then we caught chair lifts up even higher. My Bridget Jones’ moment was upon me. I skied off the chair and instead of turning left with Geoff I carried on straight ahead and fell head first into a snow mound. The problem after that was that I couldn’t stand up without falling over again. The party were incredibly patient and instead of marching me off the slopes to beginners’ school, they taught me to ski. By the end of the week I could do red runs.

Today, I have a tennis event in aid of another very good charity – nipping depression in the bud at an early age. And we have a dinner at Flamenco’s to look forward to.