Inspirational

I'm a grouch, through and through but for some unknown reason, this year, I have been looking forward to Christmas. Although I wouldn't trade our time in the van for anything. After a while when the hours of daylight get shorter and it rains more frequently it can start to be less than comfortable. Christmas was going to be the end point and with that it also represented what we'd grown to miss.
Christmas eve was spent sat across the table from Nat's Dad comparing a range of high quality ports, brandys and finally; single malt. I can certainly think of worse ways of spending an evening. BUT, Christmas day was what I was looking forward to most. Two things in particular; 'Progression' and 'Between the Trees'. Both Natalie and I have been struggling to find direction and psych within our climbing since returning. Being able to travel Europe's best venues, picking of the best quality lines is fantastic. Battling frozen fingers, rain and the associated frustration that I associate with gritstone is less so. These two DVD's were my pre-packaged psych material, and I couldn't wait.

It was a toss up between which would be bunged into the player first, but as we had none climbers present (...and I couldn't be bothered to explain the 'point' of bouldering) big up won the toss.
I'd heard that progression was the newest and by far the best offering from Big Up and I have to say I totally agree. Incredible. Patxi fever seems to have overrun Sheffield since people first viewed the film, the Racist in particular seeming particularly strong and in shape of late. However, it wasn't the total dedication of Patxi that I found the most inspiring.
Since climbing in places like the Verdon I've developed a large amount of respect for people who can perform in a situation with such exposure. It is simply mind blowing to me. That is why Tommy Caldwells 'dose' had me leaning forward in my overly reclined chair, glued to the huge screen. Simply, WOW.
On the trip we barely managed a week of bouldering, Albarracin was fun, Magic wood was at least; new. However, none of it was as awe inspiring as it had once been. Yes the moves are nails and the holds are seemingly none existent, but its all over so fast.
Next up was 'Between the Trees'. Firstly I have to say that on first viewing of L'etranger I wasn't overly interested. Then about a year later I dug it out for a Font trip and watched it over and over again. My ticklist comprised only of problems on that film and I had what I think was my best bouldering trip ever (helped by nigh on perfect conditions day in day out). I still forgot/didn't donate. I don't think its overly fair to post my own review of the film (not that I'd think Keith would care), opinions are very personal and being a little un-psyched by bouldering I would probably be the wrong person to do so anyway (this blog has upset far too many people by accident). Elephunk looked great.
So there it is, on the back of a 6 month trip my goals in climbing seem to once again be shifted. I'm inspired (by the Patxi sequence) to start once again putting in the effort on fingerboards, boards and the rocks in order to achieve what I want but for me that isn't that extra plus, more a handful of problems and routes. I could go on forever chasing that elusive half grade extra and miss out on some of the other parts of the sport that I've barely explored. Hopefully when the weather improves Nat and I can start exploring the grit stone edges together and when it improves further my favourite sport venues in North Yorkshire. Until then I hope to hold on to a small slice of my endurance and that's going to require work.

Where is the f*cking school when you need it?

Merry Christmas

Love Affair

A while ago I read what was basically an attack on the automotive industry about their thirst for power (as in brake horse power) rather than economy. I felt at the time this was rather unfair as in fact, with anybody selling anything, customers dictate what does and doesn't succeed and up until recently in terms of cars that has been safety. Encap ratings being the big thing. This led to each size of car bloating somewhat to make it more pedestrian lemming friendly and to get better ratings of course (great ad material). The problem with this was that the cost of re-engineering engines to match the new cars size and weight was just too great and it was far easier to just re-use old engines with slight tweaks (think 206 and 207). This in turn led to a range of highly underpowered cars that, in reality, offer limited MPG in the real world. Currently the aim of the games is greater MPG, and lower C02. Alfa have been making tremendous engines of late offering a lot of power, with amazing environmental statistics. Add to this the new rule change in Formula 1 meaning refuelling is prohibited and it won't be long before advances in fuel economy leak down to the home market. If you're really concerned about C02 there's another way to go that involves no Cat converter but this poses a bit of a hydrocarbon nightmare I'm told.
And this brings me on to what caught my attention at the time. The fact of the matter is that GOOD economical cars have been out there for a while, people just didn't buy them. My car in fact. A 53 reg Punto HGT JTD (~ 6 years old) of which I've had two, both offered amazing MPG that makes some modern cars look poor. 62 and 58 mpg respectively over their entire lives with us, that includes city driving and the daily slog up to Wakefield.
After returning from 6 months off our beloved blue Italian has been sat in my 'rents garage with no electricity. Its first Italian-ism was waiting for me when I went to recharge it. Whats the answer to the riddle "what do you do with a Punto with a flat battery and a broken bonnet release"... The answer to which is: Fight to remove bonnet release handle as silly Fiat decided to leave the threaded bar too long to fit a socket over and the bracket too small to fit a spanner in, pure genius, they must use special tools over there. Having fought for a while and eventually winning I left it to suckle electricity overnight from the slow trickle charger. It turned over first go in the morning and then chucked out warning lights from Engine Failure to Refuelling Needed. 15 minutes later these had disappeared and I was on my favourite backroad. The snow was falling, the road was wet and coming into my favourite bend on my ex Saturday morning school drive I gave the throttle a blip, the car slid in perfection just hitting the apex and once again... I love my Fiat.

Oh and I climbed indoors the other day, it was average and hurt my hands.