First off, Happy New Year everyone! I hope wherever you were you all had a great New Years Eve, Hogmanay, Silvester, etc etc etc...
For many years, Hogmanay had become something of a foregone conclusion. Drinks with friends, find a place to watch the Edinburgh fireworks, then head to a party or night club. I used to look forward to these nights for all kinds of reasons, and would be filled with excitement for weeks beforehand. Lately however I've started to lose interest. The big party, even once a year, has lost its buzz. I still loved having friends gather together from afar, but had felt a need to try something different. It just so happened that this year I wasn't alone, and together with a group of similarly minded friends, rented a remote chalet in the Swiss alps and decided to leave the hedonism of Edinburgh's Hogmanay behind. 10 people, together in a 350 year old wooden chalet 1000m up a mountain. Sounded like bliss.
And it was, for the most part. Ok, so the chalet wasn't the most comfortable, with old beds, walls and floors that afforded next to no privacy, and mice that ravaged the walls and cupboards. Not to mention the bed that was in a curtained off section of the attic, without any windows, that passed for an acceptable place to sleep a couple of guests. Then there was the water pump that fed the chalet that had stopped working due to the unseasonably dry weather, and the fuses that kept blowing and needed changed every day. We weren't even sure whether the chalet itself would remain standing long enough to see out the bells, the threat of fire from the stove or collapse from the 10 people crammed inside both a strikingly real possibility...
...yet these factors aside, this was without doubt one of the best Hogmanays I have had. A charming chalet in the stunning alps with excellent people what else do you need?
