The First Fantastic Formal Friday at the Folie Douce with Fraser and Friends

Now I have started a little tradition in town called Formal Fridays. This is basically involves donning a shirt and tie and get properly “Car Parked”. The usual proceedings mean that we start at La Folie Douce around 3pm. For those that don’t know La Folie Douce... I can only say you are missing out. The Folie is a mountain restaurant/bar that has live House DJs that are accompanied by singers and musicians. The Folie is probably the best place in town to do a serious après session.

Now some of you are probably thinking that surely a good après session on the mountain must be weather dependant but in the case of the Folie Douce you would be wrong. Some of my best Folies have been in complete white-outs, raving away with around 500 people in the freezing cold whilst clutching a bottle of rose.

So the first one of the season was on Friday 11th December and was a very timid affair (in terms of numbers, not banter). When heading to the Folie, you can either ski there or go in your shoes and get the bubble car up. We decided to get the bubble car up... My preference every time. Nav & Katy took full advantage of the travel time by tucking into a box/bag of rose.



It was a white-out and the outside bar was closed so around 14 of us in shirts and ties and hit the inside bar. We were surrounded by holiday makers drinking vin chaud and chomping on an over priced spag bol. We on the other hand ordered 8 bottles of rose and started the days festivities. A bottle of flavoured vodka got added into the mix and the party had begun.



We were suitably rowdy when we left and we headed straight to the Moris Pub to continue the après sesh. Another 4 bottles of rose later and then the drinking games began. Fives, Truth and Dare & Kiss Chicken featured quite highly.





At around 7pm the après session fizzled out. You now have to take this time to either have a power nap or power on through before starting drinking again around 9pm.

Needless to say, some made it and some didn’t. This is often the way with a big Fantastic Formal Friday at the Folie Douce with Fraser and Friends.

Fraser

My first Bluebird – January 5th

Now the weather this year has been terrible. The snow has been OK but the visibility has been non existent. Due to my workload and the fact that I am a massive "Fair Weather" skier it meant that my first real days skiing came on January 5th... My first Bluebird.

That was a solid 8 weeks in resort before I got up the hill. Now I’m not going to say it was worth the wait but I honestly had 3 of the best hours skiing of my life.

Pictures speak louder then words… Blue skies for miles around…





Fraser

My beginning of the Winter 09/10 season

I arrived into Geneva on the 8th November and was met at the airport by a good friend of mine... Omar (See below). This will be my fourth season in Val and will definitely be the most challenging to date. I have taken on the position of Dicks Tea Bar Manager and have three weeks to prepare the club before my staff come out. Omar is the manager of Dicks in Meribel and will be somewhat of my Yoda figure...



The drive up to Val starts from a small town called Bourg St Maurice which is around 30 minutes away. As I entered Bourg I could see a good layer of snow which I wasn’t expecting so early in the year. Hopefully this was a good omen for the season ahead.

Val d’Isère is an infectious place that draws me back year on year. The people are amazing and the lifestyle is second to none. My objectives for the season are to bring a fresh new feel to Dicks and to ski as much as possible.

For the next three weeks I had to get the club up and running. The main jobs were to finish the building work that has been going on over the summer and sort out the staff training.

We opened the club on Saturday 28th November. The image below is one of all the staff.



The opening night is always a baptism of fire due to fact that the place is really busy and its my staffs first night. Luckily everything went well and the feedback from everyone who attended was positive. I’m trying to take Dicks “Back to Basics” by lowering the prices and improving the service.

Fraser

Let me introduce myself

Hi there guys. Let me introduce myself. I am Fraser and I am a Jack Wills Seasonnaire in Val d’Isère. This is my third year as a JW Seasonnaire but it is the first year that requires me to blog about my antics (this is me below).



This season is I will be managing Dicks Tea Bar and I have been given the task of taking the club “Back to Basics”. It has been a very big challenge for me and has meant that I could not devote a lot of time to anything else. The club is now running how I would like it which means I can now write about some of my experiences about the season so far.

I am looking forward to a great season…. I hope you enjoy my blog.

Fraser

I Would like to introduce you all to Formal Friday at the Folie Douce with Fraser and friends.
Basically every Friday we get dressed up in shirts , ties, waist coats, monocles, pimp sticks and descend on a restaurant/outside club half way up the mountain and listen to some huge anthems and drink as much rose as possible.
I will walk you through my day
Just a quick one: This is the view from the end of my bed, for all you lot still waking up to taxi horns and London smog:

10.00 am – myself and the rest of the house feeling very very ropey on the account of us having a lock in that night/morning.


Breakfast was a handful of cereal out the door as the weather began to clear.

Cramped Bubble lifts......feeling worse

................Feeling better

2.30 -Tignes Le Lack after the most amazing schuss, weather just disappeared !!!!!

Feeling better but still not looking like it
3.30 – We get to the folie Douce to find it rammed and Fraser already getting stuck in.

Cant hold a good boy down

No jokes................ 5 minutes later

The views out from V.I.P


Athos, Porthos and Aramis

4.00pm – what a turn around

4.30pm - The last song

After a ropey ski back down the mountain we checked straight into Saloon for some après après



And to watch the girls play pool.
What an insane day, keep watching for more of the same x x

2010 – Neon style
The night started quietly, fireworks, champagne and chucking neon paint all over everything and each other.

The view from our balcony: 31/12/2009

The torch lit procession about to kick the night off.
............and it kicked off in a BIG WAY.

I managed to find some spare party pants from the incredible Marthas Vineyard summer that I passed round to the team.


Fraiser having a quick kiss with one of the other bar managers........
The night kicked off with Mr finding turning up with the boys, but by 11.00 he was well on his way and my job was half done.
9 vodka red bulls later and i had won......hands down.
The rest of the night I turned my attention to the INSANE Neon rave that had the first few hours of 2010 into a full on champagne spraying patry .




Staff ditching the bar to see in 2010.

People soon realising that it was a free for all behind the bar.

We finished the night with an after party at Le Petit Danois for all the bar staff in resort , predictably it got entirely out of hand , I got to bed at 1.00pm the next day and I don’t remember getting there.
2010 started with a huge Neon bang thats going to continue this season, make sure your out here at some point x x

Happy Christmas hope you all had an amazing time !!!!!!
WOW turns out the combination of 15 bottles of vodka and 20 people starved of family affection is a pretty lethal combination, we had 4 people falling asleep before the first course, 6 people dressed as winter creatures with one penguin who shall remain nameless falling asleep at the table with his face in a bowl of stuffing ..........this was my personal favourite.

I’m not joking guys, cooking a Christmas dinner for 20+ is a nightmare, mum i will never complain again, sorry.
Still everyone had an amazing time and I managed not to poison any one....so I won the bet guys.


The JW knitwear out in FORCE !!!

The main dance floor of dicks turned out to be ideal for Christmas dinner.

Christmas pudding took a back seat to a MASSIVE banoffee pie.
The huge sugar high that rolled on made some of the dicks staff decide to make a Christmas card that was send around town that evening.............. for your pleasure

Christmas rolled into Boxing Day and beyond with very little sleep



Henry saw a girls Elf outfit, liked it, 10 seconds later was wearing it ........we still don’t know where this girl went.
We are all dreading New Year’s eve........Mr Finding is set to grace us with his presence to see in 2010, I’ve made it my mission to make sure he leaves a BROKEN man.
I will let you know if he survives.

What a MAD first couple of weeks it’s been......special mention to a member of our illustrious Jack Wills family who came into dicks in complete control and with a little help from me behind the bar and the altitude (she claims) left in another state entirely.
She was last seen escorting a Gent home only to hear the next day that she had managed to throw up all over his leg ..........loving your work.
Getting up the mountain is proving tougher than imagined; the Dicks team seem far more interested in drinks tasting than hitting the slopes.




.................I’m not complaining, fancy dress is a way of life out here, the parties are infectious and a LOT of fun.

Saloon girls playing at pimps and hoe’s...........WHAT A NIGHT.
Hangover cures have taken the form of random acts of creation wherever possible.

Snow men are soo 2008.

Anyone for a vodka throne??? compliments of a typo on the ordering sheet ha ha ha ha.
Christmas and New Year just around the corner, I’ve been ordered into the kitchen to tackle a meal for 25 people Brussels, turkey and roasties. Luckily Jack wills have sent me a jumper that can only be allowed out at the Christmas table.
Guys wherever you are make sure you have a blinder over the next few weeks and see you soon.
James