A day off! This is a rare occurrence for a Business Intelligence road warrior, so I went to visit my eldest son who works at a ski resort in the French Alps. He managed to convince me to try out skiing for the second time in my life. I shall not mention the first time except to say that I ruined the ski instructor’s perfect record of never giving up on a student.

If man was meant to ski, he would have evolved feet that were 1.5 meters long with smooth flat bottoms. I perfected falling, but could not master getting up with these gigantic fiberglass moon boots and 2 huge planks locked on my feet. I told the French ski instructor that he would require great patience with me and he said that he was a master of patience, but about one hour into the class, as he helped me up for the umpteenth time, I got wacked across the face, by one of his ski poles, and I caught the glimmer of a satisfied smile on his face!

The instructor also turned out to be an expert on electromagnetic fields, emitted by cell phones, and hinted that the overuse of my mobile could have destroyed vital brain cells that I needed to learn to ski properly! Maybe I should consider this when promoting mobile Business Intelligence?

After just 1.5 hours of beginner ski lessons, I was heading down a slope that I did not realize was part of a 2 mile run descending quite rapidly in parts. After several spectacular crashes, I removed my skis permanently and went back to the chalet to lick my wounds.