Kenneth Farrow, who died in Cardiff on Friday aged 82, was awarded the George Cross for his gallantry when as a young policeman he jumped into fast flowing water in an attempt to save a four-year-old boy from drowning in 1948.

Tam Brown, of Tayside Fire Brigade who dived into the River Tay last month to save a drowning woman may be disciplined because he disregarded safety rules when there was "no statutory obligation to carry out rescues from moving water."

The 42-year old's actions breach fire service rules which don't allow firefighters to enter the water to rescue drowning victims. 

Both Brown and his watch manager, who agreed he should go in, are the subject of an investigation.

Somewhere between then and now we've got our values and priorities all mixed up but, thankfully, rules and regulations are no barriers to heroes.

We've had a spendid few days here and the conditions continue to be good... although we're now firmly into spring skiing from the -15C of Tuesday to 1C now... how the weather changes in the mountains!

Village temps of -5C a couple of days ago are now up to 11C and it is T shirt weather.   All very nice.. but what is it doing to the snow??   The freezing level is up to 2,700m which is really too high.   Luckily the base is still huge, but the top will be going sugary.   Just have to head high.

Tuesday we skiid Whistler and it was one of my better days.. the turns came together very well and I felt comfortable on my X-Wing Blast Salomons which I think are the best ski's I've hired and certainly a step up from the X-Screams of last year.   Or perhaps it was skiing in the sunshine that made all the difference!


Yesterday we went up Blackcomb and as usual the curse of flat light - but at least no fog - conspired to make me uneasy, sit back and ski badly.   I've loosened my boots a little as they were too tight and I was losing circuation and this has helped.

Whistler has continued to expand and has added access to a bowl previously only available to experts and hikers: Symphony.   The new lift is excelllent and the runs are a mix of open piste, off piste bowl and gladed runs towards the bottom.   The only downside is that it is a long way from Symphony back to Harmony and then over to Whisky Jack for lunch.   It is high though and I expect we will be skiing this for much of the rest of the holiday.

Toolkit went Heli Skiing yesterday and had a fabulous time and most of us are taking a rest day today as 5 days in a row at our age is just too tiring.    More tomorrow.