Greetings from the Alps

I thought I'd had my fill of snow, but there's something quite different about the kind of stuff we get in December and January, and the glistening, powdery white stuff that falls in the Alps. Or is it just that when it makes life and work more of a challenge than a finely balanced operation, I lose any romantic notions towards it.

This week over 2,000 feet above sea-level, in the hills of Northern Italy, I was blown away by the sheer beauty of nature at it's uninterrupted best. I don't really have a head for heights, but I had to make at least one sacrifice if I was to get the best out of the tranquillity of the hillsides, even although they were teeming with people.

It's a different kind of silence that you get in the hills and slopes as any climber will testify, and it's a great place to be - to get away from the stresses of modern life. I wasn't thinking "Sound of Music" but I was thinking how music can take us into those kinds of peaceful territories too - sweeping you off to other lands even if only for six or seven magical minutes.

Classical music does that - and there is so much to choose from. What banishes the cares of the day for you? What do you like to listen to, just to switch off? The soaring vocals of Pavarotti or Placido Domingo, or from the world of rock is it Freddie Mercury or Bruce Springsteen?

Get in touch with your suggestions.