HIgh Balls

Work
On Thurs my work went arse over tits. Put in a 100 particles; get a 100 out. Put in 200; get 188 out. Put 1000 in get 600 ish out. I need to put in 82,000, and with that level of mass in balance, I'm screwed. Something is going wrong within Fluent and I'm making my case to the helpdesk to rectify it. How come when you have direction with something like this a massive obstacle falls from the sky and lands right in the way? Oh well, my license runs out in 8 days anyway and they're notoriously bad at renewing it so I won't lose any 'extra' time.

Onto more interesting things...

Bank Holiday
The weekend came and to be fair the long range forecast had us all a bit defeated. On Thurs night we made the decision to head north, crash at my folks and then check the weather in Northumberland the next morning, if it was poor we'd relax with my family. If it was good we'd climb.
It was good, in fact excellent. We chose to go to Callerhues which is out towards Bellingham, a little off the beaten track and therefore quiet. Empy if truth be told. One thing that should be noted is that the Trad guide and Bouldering guide are interchangeable for this crag, it depends whether you can look at something high and think F5+ does it justice, or whether the E3 solo tag makes more sense (the latter does for me). The rock here is great but needs more traffic and a little effort with a SOFT brush to sort out the tops (which are rounded). There really are a few gems at this crag; Monocle, Crouching the mahogany, H8 and Softly Softly (sorry guys the problems at the far left are far from classic). Dan's eyes of silence was damp on the right arete so I opted to steer clear.
Saturday we awoke and did the same thing; check the weather. Yorkshire looked questionable, Northumberland poor. Again a quick bit of a guidebook flick led us to the Bridestones, I wanted to tick Horror Arete and Nat wasn't fussed where we went. The crag was empty until we left in the evening when a solitary boulderer turned up. Conditions were a little greasy but the weather held and I got my ticks and did battle with a few grit slabs.
Sunday, you guessed it. Up then weather. Again there were a few problems I wanted to try that I'd just never got round to visiting. Ramshaw, Newstones and Baldstones were the order of the day. The wind was howling at Ramshaw which made Oasis bulge tickier than it ought to have been. On the lower tier the wind was held at bay allowing me to nip in for a quick ascent of Tierdrop. This problem is classic, high, basic, grit pinches, a bit of power, what more could a man want? Newstones and Baldstones weren't riveting but Charlie's and the Ripple needed ticking.
Monday, we both awoke sore and with little skin. Instead of climbing we opted for DIY and we now have a new working electrically heated, electrically pumped shower. Which is nice. Neither of us died in the process which is also heart warming.

There are a few things that I haven't got around to trying that I really feel I ought to. Marks roof being one notable hole in my repetoire. I also feel that I should visit the Gardoms North circuit and see whats what. Pogle's wood looks like a great little find.
When the weather gets a little warmer and a little more stable (does it ever?), I think it'll be time to take Nat tradding, The peak, the pass and the slate are top of the list. I've never been to pembroke but maybe this is the year?

Training
I'm back into visiting walls as often as I feel up to it and I have to say that I'm struggling. Tonights sessions was far too long and I didn't identify that point at which I stopped making progress in the right direction. I berated myself for not getting a double toe to work and kept hammering away until all skin and stomach were destroyed. Its a rookie error and one I need to address. Stop strong? Yes Malcolm.

Misc
Camera's n stuff? Got a little lucky and found a load of old lenses my Grandad had, these 'should' work a treat with the 550d when/if I manage to get one.

Oh and if you haven't heard through the grapevine or some other source, two weeks or so the wench and I got engaged. This time she took me seriously. For anyone aspiring to propose I suggest that you never do it:
A) drunk
and
B) using a carrefour (value) jelly ring