Well, I think its about time that A2I was no more... the readership of this blog is stupidly large, much larger than I intended and that means there's a hell of a lot more chance of me p*ssing someone off who doesn't know me all that well and doesn't realise I'm just having a bad day.
So far I've offended friends, wall owners and most people who decided to have children, my work is done.
I was also rather hoping to become less Addicted to Injury whilst on my travels...
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Power blogging
Time is short (although I'm sure Mr Foley would disagree!)...
Tomorrow the van should be done
Tonight Nat ploughed up the middle of the troll wall with ease (impressed me no end)
We have bought everything we think we might need
We still need to get our lives in order (i.e. lots of boring cr*p)
This weekend we are at my folks
Next week we plan the general route!
This weekend at Center Parcs I tried my best to ruin my shoulder playing squash. However, strangely for me (by tonights performance) I'm guessing I didn't quite manage it. Someone did however steal my locked up hire bike.
I got to meet three legends within the last 24 hours, Two halves of an ice cream duo and Bubba from UKB. Nat recognized two of the bunch which is progess.
The van is looking amazing and all of the extras the seller threw in are of greater worth than I expected, especially the quileted window insulation pack.
Right, current task; eat everything in the freezer. MMmmmm
Tomorrow the van should be done
Tonight Nat ploughed up the middle of the troll wall with ease (impressed me no end)
We have bought everything we think we might need
We still need to get our lives in order (i.e. lots of boring cr*p)
This weekend we are at my folks
Next week we plan the general route!
This weekend at Center Parcs I tried my best to ruin my shoulder playing squash. However, strangely for me (by tonights performance) I'm guessing I didn't quite manage it. Someone did however steal my locked up hire bike.
I got to meet three legends within the last 24 hours, Two halves of an ice cream duo and Bubba from UKB. Nat recognized two of the bunch which is progess.
The van is looking amazing and all of the extras the seller threw in are of greater worth than I expected, especially the quileted window insulation pack.
Right, current task; eat everything in the freezer. MMmmmm
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Full steam ahead...
Its full steam ahead in our flat currently as piles of replacement climbing gear appear all over the place. Printed topo's, emails and anything else useful continously spew out of my printer turning our newly converted room into a royal mess.
Nat has been asked (no, made an offer she couldn't refuse) to finish this Friday which just leaves my work and a heap of chores to do before we're clear of everything.
Yesterday evening her crash course in sport climbing had its starting jolt. Team 'hombre' climbed earlier than us but later on James, Nat and I were in the Foundry and it was time for ropes.
It would be a pretty boring blow by blow account but suffice to say it went well with Nat seconding almost everything she was pointed at. She handled the added height of the Troll wall with ease the only thing she seemed to slightly struggle with was remembering to quit.
I was actually quite surprised by my recovery during the session and for a while pondered why I've spent so long chasing power when realistically my body is built for stamina? For my last route of the day I went for something spicy and pink. I fought my way through to the steepness but it was too much for me. Stabbing wildly at a hold I fell into space. Happy that, on the first session on a rope this summer I'm confident to try.
The next step is Nat on the sharp end. I'm concious of rushing her but also concious of time running out. Anybody fancying doing routes over the next few weeks please don't be shy!
Nat has been asked (no, made an offer she couldn't refuse) to finish this Friday which just leaves my work and a heap of chores to do before we're clear of everything.
Yesterday evening her crash course in sport climbing had its starting jolt. Team 'hombre' climbed earlier than us but later on James, Nat and I were in the Foundry and it was time for ropes.
It would be a pretty boring blow by blow account but suffice to say it went well with Nat seconding almost everything she was pointed at. She handled the added height of the Troll wall with ease the only thing she seemed to slightly struggle with was remembering to quit.
I was actually quite surprised by my recovery during the session and for a while pondered why I've spent so long chasing power when realistically my body is built for stamina? For my last route of the day I went for something spicy and pink. I fought my way through to the steepness but it was too much for me. Stabbing wildly at a hold I fell into space. Happy that, on the first session on a rope this summer I'm confident to try.
The next step is Nat on the sharp end. I'm concious of rushing her but also concious of time running out. Anybody fancying doing routes over the next few weeks please don't be shy!
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Beta and Pain!
The blogging will likely be short for the next few weeks. The To-do list is huge and getting bigger by the hour so I think its going to eat all my free time. I'll pick the van up on Sat from Chester and then set about fixing a few things that I think it needs, then re-MOT it as otherwise it'll run out midway through the trip.
Tonight I bumped into the climbing shire horse that is Uncle, he claimed he was weak. He didn't look it from where I was standing. Tonight was a good night, not only for the banter but tonight was the first session I climbed without tape and left with my skin hurting and nothing else. Ice now, just in case.
I'm currently trying to extract trip beta from as many people as possible, if you've got anything you feel might be useful, please don't be shy!
Tonight I bumped into the climbing shire horse that is Uncle, he claimed he was weak. He didn't look it from where I was standing. Tonight was a good night, not only for the banter but tonight was the first session I climbed without tape and left with my skin hurting and nothing else. Ice now, just in case.
I'm currently trying to extract trip beta from as many people as possible, if you've got anything you feel might be useful, please don't be shy!
Monday, 1 June 2009
Going to see a man about a van...
Things move fast in the world of last minute euro-trip planning. I've got a competitive insurance quote, I've located an ideal looking van and I'm off to view it tomorrow...
Ex AA
Pop top
Pro Conversion - fridge, leisure battery, 2 ring burner, captain seat and the rest...
2.5 Tdi 102 bhp
YELLOW!
(probably faster and more economic than a tortoise box)
Ex AA
Pop top
Pro Conversion - fridge, leisure battery, 2 ring burner, captain seat and the rest...
2.5 Tdi 102 bhp
YELLOW!
(probably faster and more economic than a tortoise box)
Dilemna
Just to disprove Keiths post about life being simple I thought I better put my thoughts in print:
On Friday Nat came home with the news that she's been offered a 6 month sabbatical. Obviously I'm still in the middle of my PhD, we're now homeowners and well there are a lot more factors to consider.
Firstly, this is a great chance to finally take the trip that we missed out on a few years ago. Nats career is going somewhere and the chances of us having spare time that coincides in the future is unlikely. In order to ensure a trip in the future the ideal time would be at the end of my PhD. This would mean her quitting her job, which to be honest wouldn't make financial sense and may leave us in a bit of a pickle. Work is low for her at the minute, dangerously low in fact. Her boss pointed out that she shouldn't sit up and wave to upper management that she doesn't have anything to do for obvious reasons. Taking a break now would secure her job in 6 months time when they DO have contracts starting. Not doing so may lead to something a little more disastrous. Her boss told her that they'd have to be in a bad state to start losing graduates like her. Well, they have 12 projects on, 10 of which are 99% complete and the other two are small. They're at that stage.
Now for my side of things; I don't want to quit my PhD, but then again I don't want to pass on the opportunity of taking a trip as who knows when the chance might arise again. Hopefully my supervisor can sort it so that I can take a 6 month break. If she can't I'll be forced to rethink things. I think I'd feel really bad about letting her down but then again I don't think that in itself is a good enough reason to discount doing so. I could leave with an Mphil and I'd only have wasted 6 months of her and my time.
Financially we're set for the trip, I've got cash from my Beetle turned submarine and the fact that we've only recently realised we are no longer students means we've accidently been saving.
Speaking to various people has been interesting, everyone sits clearly on either one side of the fence or the other. Talking to my parents over the weekend the same is true.
I didn't join the gym this weekend for obvious reasons (I might be off on a trip in less than a month). Instead, I worked my way through an extensive cocktail menu in the sun and then spent Sunday wandering around Cheedale. This evening I had a brief session down at the works which confirmed my suspicions that I'm managing my injury well and as a reward its recovering. Today was the second session without tape and (ignoring the fact that I'm still in easy ville) it was the also the second session during which I felt not real pain.
On Friday Nat came home with the news that she's been offered a 6 month sabbatical. Obviously I'm still in the middle of my PhD, we're now homeowners and well there are a lot more factors to consider.
Firstly, this is a great chance to finally take the trip that we missed out on a few years ago. Nats career is going somewhere and the chances of us having spare time that coincides in the future is unlikely. In order to ensure a trip in the future the ideal time would be at the end of my PhD. This would mean her quitting her job, which to be honest wouldn't make financial sense and may leave us in a bit of a pickle. Work is low for her at the minute, dangerously low in fact. Her boss pointed out that she shouldn't sit up and wave to upper management that she doesn't have anything to do for obvious reasons. Taking a break now would secure her job in 6 months time when they DO have contracts starting. Not doing so may lead to something a little more disastrous. Her boss told her that they'd have to be in a bad state to start losing graduates like her. Well, they have 12 projects on, 10 of which are 99% complete and the other two are small. They're at that stage.
Now for my side of things; I don't want to quit my PhD, but then again I don't want to pass on the opportunity of taking a trip as who knows when the chance might arise again. Hopefully my supervisor can sort it so that I can take a 6 month break. If she can't I'll be forced to rethink things. I think I'd feel really bad about letting her down but then again I don't think that in itself is a good enough reason to discount doing so. I could leave with an Mphil and I'd only have wasted 6 months of her and my time.
Financially we're set for the trip, I've got cash from my Beetle turned submarine and the fact that we've only recently realised we are no longer students means we've accidently been saving.
Speaking to various people has been interesting, everyone sits clearly on either one side of the fence or the other. Talking to my parents over the weekend the same is true.
I didn't join the gym this weekend for obvious reasons (I might be off on a trip in less than a month). Instead, I worked my way through an extensive cocktail menu in the sun and then spent Sunday wandering around Cheedale. This evening I had a brief session down at the works which confirmed my suspicions that I'm managing my injury well and as a reward its recovering. Today was the second session without tape and (ignoring the fact that I'm still in easy ville) it was the also the second session during which I felt not real pain.
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