My brother came round for some beers last night while we watched some of the Winter Olympics coverage from Vancouver. A few of the women’s skiers took nasty falls in the downhill event, i mean they must be doing 80mph at least so I presume it’s like coming of a motorbike with a slightly softer landing if you hit soft snow hit ice then I guess it’s like concrete.

I’ve really been enjoying the BBC coverage of Vancouver 2010, they recently came under fire for sending more reporters to the Olympics than Team GB had Olympians.

This morning I went downstairs to find my brother had left all his smoking gear, rolling papers, tobacco, filters and his tobacco tin. Hopefully he’ll get them picked up tonight. He’ll probably come round on his quad and annoy all my neighbours. He’s got a Yamaha 700 Raptor with twin exhausts so it makes a right noise, and the worst part is he hast to warm it up before he leaves so he’ll be having a fag outside for 10 minutes before he leaves.

Personal injury claims are expected to increase in all parts of the country because of the harsh winter and the heavy snow falls in January with more now expected throughout February. This is due to icy roads and treacherous pavements at this time of year, which has been further exacerbated by some of the heaviest snow falls seen in this country for 30 years or more. Solicitors specialising in No Win No Fee claims are anticipating a rash of claims due to the adverse conditions that have been experienced, both through icy roads as well as pavements. The range of injury claims can be as routine as someone slipping on ice to more unusual causes such as being hit by a huge amount of snow falling from a roof.

Although the recent legal review of the country’s civil justice system headed by Lord Justice Jackson has recommended change to the No Win No Fee system, this will require primary legislation and anyone who has suffered during the recent spell of bad weather should contact a No Win No Fee specialist for advice about claiming compensation for injury or hardship that has been caused. The system more properly know as “conditional fee arrangement” can mean that your case will be assessed and if the solicitor considers that there is a good likelihood of success he will take this on for an agreed fee, usually an aftermarket insurance premium. If they won their claim, the solicitor acting for you earns their fee and usually a success fee (bonus) from the opposing party, typically an insurance company. If you win you should also keep 100% of any compensation sum awarded to you!

La Norma sits with a view of the Vanoise National Park of France; it’s near the Italian border and is a great place for ski holidays. It has eight green runs, six blue, 11 red runs, and two black. It is also good for snowboarders, and has mostly downhill pistes. Some of the pistes are above the 2500 metre level, so snow is very consistent, and the area has snow cannons to keep snow on the other slopes; 19 ski lifts service the area.

Six airports service the region. The Geneva and Chambery airports are quite close – within two hours of the area. Eight hotels are close to the slopes, and some of them have spas, saunas, and exercise rooms. Several restaurants and nightclubs are nearby, and you can sample local, French and Italian foods.

The resort of Le Planolet has 16 ski lifts, and 24 different ski slopes encompassing 35 kilometres; there are also 50 kilometres available for cross country skiing. The slopes are in the Northern Alps, along the French-Italian border. The area has 35 km of lifts to serve the area and 70 km of the runs are cross country. The ski lifts go from 900 metres to 1,800 metres, and there are six green runs, five blue, nine red, and four black. You can also snowboard in the area.

Several fine restaurants allow visitors to sample the local cuisine. You can obtain hotel accommodation right on the slopes, and there are 11 other hotels located across the resort.

The area sits almost midway between Grenoble and Chambery airports (little more than an hour away), and the Lyon airport is about two hours away.

I read in the paper yesterday that naked cruising (the cruise ship kind, not the other kind….) was the big prediction for summer 2010 according to those in the UK travel industry. Apparently, the tourist industry is going to actively target naturists, and cruise companies will play an important role in attracting new and naked customers.

I’m not a naturist myself and, to be honest, the thought of strolling around with my and my wife’s bits on show is frankly terrifying. Suddenly a cruise holiday becomes less of a relaxing break and more of the stuff of nightmares . Never mind being naked yourself, fancy having to look at naked people all day long and night – naked people of all shapes and sizes and ages. I’m sure this is just PR (and pretty good it is to as it made all the papers yesterday) but I know the wife is looking at cruise deals for August so I’ll be asking her to make sure to check the small print very carefully in case she books us on one of those nudey cruises by mistake!!

I read an interesting article on the BBC website today about a prototype cycle aid called the Copenhagen Wheel. This new project developed by MIT, with help from Ducati Energia and the Italian Ministry for the Environment promises to change the way we cycle, whether to and from work or just for fun.

The Copenhagen Wheel can be fitted to almost any bicycle and features an oversized central hub, housing various electronic gadgets designed to make it easier to ditch your car and take your bike instead. The wheels hub can store energy every time the rider pulls the brakes, which can be used to give the rider a boost when riding uphill or negotiating traffic; this is similar to the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) used by Formula One cars.

As well as giving riders a handy boost, the Copenhagen Wheel also has a series of sensors and Bluetooth connectivity, which can connect to a users iPhone giving information about the speed of the bike, direction and the distance travelled as well as collecting data on air pollution and even where the riders friends are.

The Copenhagen Wheel is expected to go into production next year; there is no information on how much it will cost at the moment.

Will this new product get people out of their cars and on to their bikes? It might sway a few people who are thinking about it, but I can see a bigger benefit to the people who already ride their bikes to work and the fact that you can fit it to almost any bicycle makes it even more of a beneficial project.

Lift passes form an important part of the cost of your skiing holiday and without them you will not be doing much, if any skiing at all. For those who have not yet experienced the fun and thrills of a skiing holiday the all important lift pass allows you to access cable cars, chairs and tows to get you up the hill so that you can ski down again!

There is not usually just one style of lift pass, some are local to the areas where you may be staying whilst others allow you to cross into other valleys and to ski in those areas as well. Your skiing ability will determine the kind of lift pass that you would buy when you arrive at your skiing holiday destination. If you are an intermediate to good skier in the Courcheval area for example, you would certainly opt for the three valleys ski pass which allows you to ski the Meribel and Val Thorens ski areas as well as the Courcheval slopes.

If it’s your first time on a skiing holiday then you would only require a lift pass for the immediate areas, there would be little point in you buying a ski pass for a wider region which your ability would probably prevent you from getting to. For the beginner another important point to remember is that ski passes can be purchased on a daily basis so if you want to explore the town or go on a trip organised by your ski holiday specialist, you are not wasting the use of the ski pass.

The best place for both the new skier and for the more experienced is your ski holiday specialist, because this is where you will not only get the best advice about all of your holiday arrangements, but they often can get special rates for certain types of ski pass. So contact your ski holiday specialist for that wonderful holiday that awaits you in winter wonderland.