Things snowball – pun intended
So I post on a couple of forums about winter sports in Bulgaria. The chat is usually about the three main resorts out there, Bansko, Borovets and Pamporovo and is fairly mundane … “what ski boots should I buy”; “do I need a photo for my lift pass”; “are there cash machines” and over the past few seasons, “is there any bloody snow?”. But a few years back, attention turned to the socio-economic condition of the country itself and sort of focused on the fate of an orphanage near Pamporovo that desperately needed a new heating system or it would close. There wasn't a fist thumped on a desk, and someone saying, “Right! Lets fix this!” but the subject kept popping up and got talked about more and more, with someone eventually saying, we should, you know, raise some money or something.

The people looking after the orphanage mentioned a figure just less that £2000 to get the place winter proof, so we made that our goal. Various suggestions were made, but none gathered as much support as someone challenging one of the main (male) moderators of the biggest forum to “ski down a run wearing nothing but a thong.” He eventually agreed and March 14th was picked as the date, Borovets as the resort, and the week was dubbed the “Ski-A-Thong.” A fair amount of the people who post online altered and amended plans and booked that week to go out, including me and a few mates.

And then it went a bit mental. There are a few media types on the forums, so Pete (for that is his name) ended up on radio and TV stations across the UK. Someone from Sky Sports offered prizes. Schools started raising money. Tee-shirts were made. Sponsor money was pledged. From a single challenge, a hundred ideas came forth, so by the time we got on a plane for Bulgaria it was all that anyone was talking about.

Now the point of the QOTW … a pub in the resort was flagged up as a meeting point for the first night and as we walked in we were greeted by a chorus of people we'd never met shouting our names … ID'ing us from a tiny avatar and greeting us like family. It was amazing. Drink was drunk, voices were raised and we were all that bit happier knowing some of the money we were paying to get wasted with, was going to a good cause.

Events happened all week. A quiz, a curry-oke, an auction … and money came from some other, surprising, sources. Us degenerates had arranged a poker night separate from all of the do-gooding. A night of sit-and-goes with fairly quick blinds … basically to ensure that there was a lot of action and no-one was sitting out for too long. People came and went, so there wasn't an exact prize for each game, but on average the winner got the equivalent of £50 in Bulgarian Lev and here's the thing … everyone who won, without exception, took their buy-in back, bought a round of drinks, and put what was left in the ski-a-thong kitty. No-one was prompting this or expecting it … it just happened every single time. Everyone had a great night so a repeat event was held later in the week, and the same thing happened.

Anyway, the day of the actual ski-a-thong arrived. By now, Pete wasn't doing it alone as various people had been sponsored to do the run in a number of outfits … and many others were doing it just for the hell of it. Personally, I’d chucked a kilt into my backpack as an after-thought, but I honestly didn’t fancy a trip down the mountain in it, especially as a ‘true’ Scotsman. At lunch before the event I was still internally debating about doing it, when at the next table I overheard a very young lad, of maybe 11 or 12, pleading with his parents to do the run in his pants. That’s all the inspiration I needed, if he can do it, so can I! I de-salopetted myself, got the kilt on, and subtly got out of everything underneath. I made my way to the bottom of the run and assembled with the other people in varying degrees of fancy dress and unwittingly my naked ass got filmed to turn up later that night on Bulgarian TV, (and that’s a sentence I never thought I’d type). After much nervous ado, we all get up lifts and down a thankfully very short run, fulfilling the requirements of the challenge … then we all get drunk.

Proof, if proof be need be youtu.be/BKvWSY_B2I8 ...look out for the Poma giving Pete a good thwack in the balls. My arse is just after the bunny-girl.

There's a final night in the pub, with speeches, thanks and many many drinks. Some of the children at the orphanage have made us cards. I'm presented with one and it makes me cry … don't know why, but probably it was the orphanage (in my mind) moving from concept to reality. There really were children with no parents out there, relying on donations of clothes and blankets as their accommodation, their home, wasn't heated over winter.

So, the main man takes the mic, the man who agreed to ski in a thong in the first place. He's got the total from all of the events, the promised sponsorship, the tin in the pub where we played poker. Remember we had sort of aimed for £2000? That night, a cheque was presented to the orphanage fund for … Eleven Thousand Euros. Let me say that again. Eleven Thousand Euros.

So, meeting people off the internet can be a wonderful, wonderful thing. We skiied, snowboarded, drank and drank some more, and somehow managed to make life for some Bulgarian orphans a little better for a while. I just dug my card out from the books it lives between and smiled … yup, a wonderful, wonderful thing.
( Cheeses of Nazareth Where's Captain Kirk? www.whereiskirk.com, Sun 23 Oct 2011, 1:50, 8 replies)

Proper
*hardest motherfunking click ever*
brought a tear to my eye.

This is what it's all about.
(SausageWarrior destination Zululand, come on boys jump in the van, Sun 23 Oct 2011, 7:06, closed)

Click
I have something in my eye...... must be the image of your arse ;)
(Speshal, Sun 23 Oct 2011, 13:02, closed)

That was lovely
Also there's an admirer of your arse on YouTube!
(Smysha Tra la la!, Sun 23 Oct 2011, 15:34, closed)

now this is more like it!
*clicks HARD*
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Sun 23 Oct 2011, 20:20, closed)

Damn good story Sir
thanks for sharing.
Clicky
( Rev. Jayneflakes Buy my book, I need the cash for drugs and hookers, Sun 23 Oct 2011, 22:23, closed)

More!
Of this sort of thing.
( DukeEuphoria Comes highly reccomended, Mon 24 Oct 2011, 15:40, closed)

I love this story
well done!
( pixel_fucker is going to need a bigger brush, Mon 24 Oct 2011, 19:04, closed)

For the win
click.
( His Popiness the Hole Invaded Poland on, Mon 24 Oct 2011, 23:46, closed)