The kids had a skiing lesson at Polmonthill today, but we got an apologetic phone call from the ski slope explaining that the slope was mostly closed because it had iced over. So, since it was holiday, we took them to Xscape in Clydebank.

Xscape is pretty impressive – a huge barn of a place, chilled to around freezing and with something that is claimed to be real snow. Obviously it must be manufactured, but it feels like real snow to ski on!

Once we eventually managed to find a parking space we had a great time. The two hours we had booked passed in no time, and by the end of it I had even just about remembered how to do parallel turns

Marie and the kids also had a great time, with Marie starting off at the half-way point on the hill but soon graduating to the full slope.

Photographically, this was shot on the Ixus 860. You can clearly see the problems of the lens assembly; Jenni’s ski poles are not moving but that corner of the picture is clearly out of focus.

Oh, Jenni asks me to point out that she’s standing at a funny angle and isn’t really fat. Sigh.