What's a BLOG? 

Just write what comes into your head MAN.

I can't do that - that's crazy - I'll be sued if I'm not MURDERED first!!

Edit in your head  - you know about SKIING so write about it. Write about boiled eggs, sheep, SNOW, castration, aliens, MOUNTAINS - anything .....!

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My son, Paddy has sent a text from a ski shop in les Arcs prior to a week of winter frolics. What make of helmet is best Dad?

I'm sitting here in front of my screen trying vainly to sell ski holidays, staring at the grim grey day and the lowering sky framed in the window.

HELMET!! He wants to wear a ski helmet! What sort of a man is he? He'll be asking for inflatable salopettes next so he doesn't hurt his little botty wotty!

I've calmed down now and had a look at the bad news from the Alps, where last week a Slovakian woman, Beata Christandl died of head injuries after a collision with a German politician, Dieter Althaus. They were skiing down separate pistes that converged. Mr Althaus should have turned right when he met the new piste but instead he continued skiing up hill on the other when he hit Mrs Christandl coming down.

The two skiers collided at an estimated speed of 60 mph. Mrs Christiandl died while being airlifted off the mountain, and Mr Althaus is still in hospital with a fractured skull and can't remember anything. He was wearing a helmet and she wasn't.

This will be instant fodder for those who say that we should all wear helmets, but I disagree.

The main problem is piste configuration. It's crazy that where one piste meets another there is often no physical barrier to stop one flow of skiers before they join the new piste. I have mistakenly done what Mr Althaus did. Luckily there's never been anybody coming down the piste I've been going up. Stupidly, there was never a sign or a barrier forcing me to slow down or stop.

There's a right angle piste junction above Mottaret, France, where one flow of skiers has to stop to negotiate the staggered netting and the danger signposts. It's been there for years now - ever since a fatal collision when there were no signs at all and a snowboarder and a skier collided. Snowboarders have been taking the blame ever since.

There's no evidence that snowboarders cause more deaths than ordinary skiers or that helmets save lives. The only obvious evidence is seeing skiers and boarders slow right down at properly organised piste junctions.