My Purple Coated Friend

Ferg (Jo's little bro) and I established a bit of a custom on the lifts at Avoriaz the first day on the slopes. Well, to be quite honest it seems as if he has been pulling this stunt for some time. At any rate while in cue to get on the lift you pile and pack snow onto the front of your snowboard to be used later as snowballs to hit unsuspecting skiers below. Well, on one trip up after a very successful previous mission resulting in 2 direct hits, we were accompanied by a nice purple coated German. To be quite honest he was anything but amused. We all know the German's sense of humor and their ability to be quite serious in certain situations. Things were not good. After we unloaded on some slow targets and missing them this man asks us if we know the people below. Of course we say no because we aren't liars and didn't know the barrage of insults that was to come. He first asked our ages and I told him I was 22 to avoid some embarrassment but even this measure proved to be useless. He told us we were acting like 5 year olds and maybe we should go back to school. He then threatened to get us kicked out by telling the guy at the top who helps the young and old off the lift. After he sees this employee is about 16 he decides not to say anything and tells us we are lucky this time. We of course are snickering and laughing the whole time he is telling us we are 5 year olds. Perhaps the best part is when he tells us that it is our fun in throwing snow balls. I thought this was true and quite obvious which I told him and he of course had something else to say. In all of this I learned that guys in purple ski suits are serious, not to marry a German (although his wife was silent throughout the ride), and that certain things not translating well is a good thing at times. For all who might be wondering: it is best to do this if you are under 18 years of age I believe but we did get Jo's dad to do it as well so maybe not, fun can be had by all. After all this we had to sit down and have a mulled wine and crepe. The above picture is what a typical victim would look like post-pelting.