RS Archer
@archer_rs
Wed Oct 07 14:36:47 +0000 2020

Just told eldest daughter I am playing rugby again this season. There was a pause

"Is that wise?"

Told my parents
Father - "Excellent idea"

Mother - "This is going to be just like Cresta Run incident"

So it seems that people are interested in what my family we refer to as,

"The Cresta Run incident"

I should say at the start that I come out of this story looking rather foolish and that is demonstrably unfair. I was very much the innocent party.

I was overconfident that is true, perhaps a little naïve as well but the fact remains I was and am a confident and experienced winter sports enthusiast, I have skied from a young age, I am comfortable in the Alps and besides I thought, "just a toboggan really".

I was on Leave and had agreed to meet family members for a skiing holiday, the family at that time owned a Chalet nearby and we had all agreed to visit and to take a look and watch a friend who was doing the run. As soon as we arrived I thought that looks fun.

I watched a few others go down and then it was my sister who really started things and indeed it is still her I blame for subsequent events and the unpleasant litany of blame and recrimination that followed. She looked at me archly and said,

"You'd be too scared to do that"

With hindsight perhaps I should have had the good sense to walk away but it was the words of her weasel like then boyfriend who said,

"This is for real men". I resisted the temptation to administer the punch he was so deserving off and promptly stepped forward. "I'll have a go"

My mother's response was immediate,

"Non ! I forbid this, it is very stupid" My father didn't help,

"O I don't know, it's just like on the hills at home, he'll be fine"

Wed Oct 07 16:16:56 +0000 2020