Awesome!

I'm so mashed, I can barely keep my eyes open. A week in the French Alps with 48 children has taken its toll. Nights spent watching them until 3am, playing cards and (ultra competitive) Scrabble with the youthworkers, then up at 8am for breakfast and practise on the piste. The weather was brilliant, most of the white kids got sunburnt, and the black ones have tan lines from the goggles (which I tried desperately to avoid).

There are stories of success, triumph, and then stories which made your blood run cold. The BAP (Brixton African Princess) who almost glassed another girl at dinner on the first day, the 15 year old boy (and father to be) so distressed by the loss of his mobile that he got a kitchen knife and planned to 'approach' the other young people until he located it and the bad breed girl who cursed out one of my colleagues so badly she was afraid that she was gonna get 'banged' and had to leave the hostel for the night. The revelation for me was that the 'young women' were the worst behaved, created the most drama, and needed the most surveillance.

But then there is Max, who looks like a snowboarder but decided to ski. He's smart, funny, polite and happy go lucky. Roti, who was articulate, super intelligent and never gave up, and Jefferson who looked like he was born to snowboard. Florence who always had a smile and a joke handy, and sweet boy Jurvaine who was wicked on ice skates. Not forgetting Ishmael (aka Nyam Food) who cracked us up all week with his jokes. The majority of the young people were fantastic, but as I said to Queen Bad Breed, when she was good, she was really, really good, but when she was bad she was horrid.

To be continued.