Homeless and Jobless

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Hello all.

I am now writing from Austria. After a short stay in Berlin, unsuccessful in terms of jobs, we headed down here to see what is available on the skiing resorts. We made the shocking decision of hiring a car - it went against the grain after being so environmentally friendly on our bikes, but train journeys are incredibly complex. So, we loaded it up with large amounts of stuff (how we ever fitted it all on our bikes is a mystery to me; but then, that was before we owned a large piano accordion) and spent the day driving south. It was a bit of a miserable journey as we had no idea where we would go, what accomodation we could find and whether jobs would be available.

All has worked out remarkably well. After a white-knuckle journey over some Alpine passes, and a night spent shivering and trying to sleep in the car, we arrived at Innsbruck. We were lucky to find somewhere nice to stay. It's a cosy little caravan on a campsite near the city. The caravan is a tad retro and has lots of funny little cupboards to stash things in. Although small it contains all we need, primarily a table to play Scrabble on, sofas to loaf around on, a bed for afternoon naps and a 'kitchen' where we have been whipping up culinary delights. It is also heated so hypothermia has not been an issue... although I know that many of you will be groaning in despair as you read this, we quite like it!!

And the other concern, jobs, has also fallen into place. We sent out some exploratory emails and had some good offers immediately. It seems that ski companies are panicking about being short-staffed at this point in the season and praying for people like us to get in touch with them. So now we are deciding which jobs to go for. It looks like we will be chalet hosts, which means skivvying for little money. However, the deal is you get full board and they give you ski passes and equipment so we could theoretically become skiing pros in a few months! Although destitute ones.

Innsbruck is a charming place, there are lots of grandiose buildings and cute little medieval streets. In addition to this it is situated in a dramatic location, surrounded by high snowy peaks which jut up into the heavens. We cycle in along the river bank every day. Up to now we've been spending our time trying to sort out practicalities but once the jobs are sorted we will be able to explore the town a little more.

Anyway, that's about it for now. Hope all is well back in Britain, we do get occasional pangs of homesickness and yearn for teapots, marmite and the BBC, but on the whole we're happy to be here. Take care everyone.

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