This week the World Economic Forum has its annual meeting in Davos. Over 2,500 participants, including 40 heads of state and Bono, will meet to sort the economic ills of the world in one of the most glamorous and expensive holiday resorts in Europe. Ironic or what? Even worse, there’s bound to be a few people attending who don’t like snow and mountains. How unfair is that? Someone organise a world cartooning forum in the Alps and see how fast I get there. Oh wait, someone did.

The French mountain village of Valloire used to hold an annual bande designee festival. Cartoonists and comic book artists ascended from all over France. One year there was an interloper - a cartoonist from England.

I knew nothing about the festival before I arrived. I thought I was there for a skiing holiday. However, as soon as I arrived in the village, my Spidey sense activated and I homed in on the first event. Within a couple of days I was joining in most evenings. The usual form of entertainment was the tac-au-tac. A flip chart was set up in a bar or disco and the cartoonists were given a topic. They’d then take turns to top each other’s jokes. This was particularly challenging as I didn’t speak French, but cartooning is a universal language and Britain’s honour was upheld.

The bar-room late nights didn’t do a lot for my skiing but I figured it was all in the cause of entente cordiale.

The Valloire cartoon festival seems to be no more, which is a shame. In the intervening years, my French has got worse but my drawings have improved, so I’d have been keen to give it another shot. I’ll even slum it in Davos, if one is held there. The point is, it’s more fun when you can combine an event like this with the real reason for going into the mountains in winter.

So, to the various leaders of world opinion who follow this blog (hello Ian and Sheila), if you’re getting bored with listening to Bono and can’t ski, here’s what to do:

Disguise yourself as a member of the press, grab your overcoat and sunglasses and head out to the nearest cable car. Make sure that it stops at a south-facing mountain restaurant. Enjoy the view on the way up and don’t worry, you can catch the car down again. Once you’re at the top, grab a chair on the restaurant terrace, order a drink, sit back and enjoy the view. There is absolutely nothing better than sun-bathing in the rarified mountain air at 2,000 metres, chugging gluhwein and gazing across the snow-covered Alps. It is one of those jet-setting, James Bond moments. Feel free to hum the theme to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

In fact, give yourself permission to stay for the afternoon. Let the world take care of itself for once.