Last rites

Couldnt muster support in advance of last nights indoors action session. I had seen Rab Carrington at Hunters bar in the day, and he had said the tor was gopping on Tues eve. I couldnt be bothered driving to find it rubbish, and kind of wanted to keep things in a safe boundary, it would not do to be limping down the aisle with a sprained ankle or something (not that it is impossible to do that indoors, of course). Plus, I just wanted to go on the board again. Am really getting into it.

So I took my little laptop with me, planning to do some revision whilst i was there. That didnt happen. Joe and Vic were warming up as I arrived, and then Stu Littlefair bounded across midway through some crazy intensity training program. I was delighted. People to talk to! We all set about the motherboard. I rinsed out Rabbis and bagels one side and thought great - its gonna be the night, but never managed it the other way - due to weak left arm. Did some other good problems and marvelled at Stu's power and Joes weightbelt.

Richdraws met us for the last half an hour or so and isnt Richie Crouch. Which just goes to remind one as to not be presumptuous. I drive home, eat monkfish and watch a bit of Terminator 2 (great film)

Today is the last day at work until Monday the 24th. Tomorrow I am getting a shaving courtesy of Cheekbones mason, my hair cut and some other jobs and stuff. Saturday we will try our best to be calm! Sunday we get married! Am really excited and slightly nervous about it all, but less so than I was now that more of the background stuff has been done. We go on Honeymoon (santorini) on tuesday for a week. Then we are back at home for a few days before returning to work. This may be a blog quiet time. I plan not to update or do anything to do with computers whilst away. Cold Turkey!

Smotherboard

Good scene again last night. Dr Pinch couldn't make it, but Dr B.Hind could, and he had with him P.in Head, Cheekbones Mason, Dylog and LuLog. Conditions were inideal. It felt humid, and dry firing was of the order of things. Dan Constant Variable turned up with tanned thin pretty girl in tow. Quite who she was is unclear. He also brought with him a glum freewilly and political instigator from the North East, gangle. No appreciable progress was made on any of my various projects, and in fact, I would go so far as to say I went backwards. But, am happy to write this down to conditions and remind myself that the project bank is now brimming with potential. Yes, these are indoor board projects, but see not a return to the days of old, rather a necessary means to an end in order to acheive my goals this winter (the Ace!)(lowrider)(full power).

 

Its been a funny summer in terms of climbing. Usually, I would assert that summer is about strolling amongst the rhubarb looking for bolts to clip, but this year I have barely started. I've not had time, and then came BlueBand. And the rain. Perhaps I can snatch some glory from the later summer months when we are back from the honeymoon? Found myself daydreaming about Lowrider, and wondering when it will be time to head back up there again. Then there's trigger cut. Come september, bets in the cave are back on again, and I have my sights set.

 

With only days to go, the fear has subsided back into excitement, as I have explored all the terrifying edifices Sunday might hold and realised that it will all be allright. Am so looking forwards to being able to talk about something else, and for us two to be back to normal. We are both really looking forwards to the Honeymoon!

 

Turns out Running hill pits are in Uppermill, which is where that Scoop de Grace thing is. I never knew this, and as the outlaws are less than 2 miles away I shall be investigating. Not, however, pre wedding! highballing the day before would surely be folly. Thats enough for now pig. Wednesday is next installment of the incredible fortification of Morton, so Thursday there might be something to say.

Mini Goose

Oh, and I forgot to say - congratulations to the Fullwood's who have a bun in the oven!

 

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSE!

NachoNada

Nacho 'Chorizo el Chupacabra Paella' Sanchez is no more (until October). I shall miss his boufont demi wave flouncing around the Climbing works, and no doubt so shall many others. Fare thee well young Spaniard chum - how we are supposed to decipher Percy's sequences now? who shall we watch agape as you swing ape like between the volumes, dispensing with your lower limbs altogether?  

 

I didn't make it to the Pub last night - too late, and too early a morning, so I ducked out of the wall at 2100. Spent the session on the Beastie board, and feel like some progress is being made. I have thoughts of making an Ace simulator, as my pitifully weak left hand will need strengthening before I can entertain notions of success. Still in love with the board - just such hard work to get up it. Now managing to work my way through the easiest of problems such that I have a repetoire (of easy problems to showboat on - have we been here before?).

 

I think with all boards you need a circuit you can do, for maintenance sessions. Then the difficulty is in knowing when you are languishing in your comfort zone, and when you should be pushing on. If you're not failing, you're not trying.

BackBlog

People usually resume after a blogging hiatus with some sort of pitiful apology. Not me. I have been in wedding preparation land (9th August is big day), and weather hasn't been amazing, so there's not been loads to write.

 

The weekend of the 18th, she and I went down to Exmoor for a weekend camping (this is too far for a weekend). We stayed at the marvellous Cloud Farm, which nestles in the Doone Valley - one of rural England's last tranquil spaces (apparently). It was very nice, I can vouch for that. The weather, however, had other ideas. It wasn't fully minky, but it certainly wasn't glorious. Nice area though, the wild ponies on Exmoor are quite incredible. Related to prehistoric horses, they just roam around free to do whatever they want - we nearly mowed one down in the Astra on the way to Lynmouth. Devon for me is all about hedgerows bounding a narrow lane to a whitewashed cottage. Its lovely, and I will always be very fond of it, its just a long way. We went and looked at Ilfracoombe - what a dump. Woolacoombe is quite nice though.

 

Anyway, since then I have been to the climbing works, rediscovered the genius that is the motherboard and failed on BlueBand again. There's nothing earth shattering here, so you can presumably see why theres been a 'bloggage' in the U Bend.

 

BlueBand is brilliant. The moves are amazing. Its just so hard! i keep inching a little bit closer with each visit, but although the holds are quite big, they are all slots and pockets (almost), and my fatty sausage fingers will not fit in when they are hot and swollen. Its a great choice of pre-wedding project as the chances of hurting yourself falling off it are almost non-existent.

 

The other thing I wanted to talk about which has been swimming around in my head is the motherboard. When it first went in I got quite excited about it, but then I hurt a pulley so I gave it a wide berth. Well, that took ages to heal but feels fine now, yet I dismissed the motherboard as being folly in this heat. Not so! in fact its less rapey on the skin than resin, so is probably a good choice in this weather. And also, having to try really hard in bad nic is not so bad from a training point of view. I am keen. Mondays are motherboard.

 

As I haven't any gossip of my own, so I shall impart what titbits I do know. Spain's ambassador to Sheffield leaves on Thursday. I am quite sad about this because I have come to love him (Nacho). But, I feel sure our paths will cross again. If you are interested we are going to send him off in a raft of Ketamine on Wednesday night. Text someone to find out where. Its not hard to guess.

 

Supposed to shit it down with rain on Weds. Dave and I hatched a plan to go Rotherwards then back to the pub for Nacho, but if its bad weather I shall make this the first double motherboard session week. Thursday is wedding rehearsal! eek!

 

Folog is in Font with Lauren. He came over and we did the Rising Sun pub quiz on Sunday. Me and the monster were worried about work so got pissed. Which takes the Sunday night fear away and replaces it with Monday lethargy. Well done Morton.

Pigeon hanger

He takes a mean snap does that pigeon. Here's a link to his full set. But, this one made me laugh, so I thought I would highlight it for my amusement :

Gimphanger

My favourite thing to do in the world on a Friday night is to have a walk down to Broomhill (about half an hour), eat at Thyme café, have a beer or two and then walk back and have an early night. Honestly, I love it. It makes me so happy. We are always so tired on Friday night that we need it too. So we did that. Have a nice chat, couple of beers, some nice food, home by 8pm!

Saturday we lay in, and then she was up and off to her hen do in Manchester. Her plan was to start at our friend Liza's, have a barbecue and then into town for cocktails before back to liza's for kareoke. They all sound to have enjoyed it and I got back a tired, but not that dishevelled honey monster yesterday, which to be honest, was a welcome surprise.

I meanwhile, had arranged to go to the Tor with Spain's second ambassador to Sheffield - the mighty Nacho. There was a nice little scene, Vicky, Dale and nacho were in the roof of Ben, Kristian was working on the Mecca repair, Stone was bimbling about jovially and there were some scottish dudes on Sardine. It was oppressively hot. Humidity through the roof. As I finished warming up the crabmaster Haggis arrived, followed soon after by that most deviant of welshmen Doyle.

Relocated to maximise the shade and any chance of breeze, I move camp to the right hand side. Basically, it all feels damp. In spite of what he proclaims as rubbish conditions, Harris manages to do BlueBand, Staminaband and powerband. I shuffle about and try quite hard but ultimately only acheive brusing of the flesh. Nevertheless, i have had a nice afternoon. I head home to an empty house. I wonder about going to the cinema, but given that Dave Parry is going to the beer festival which is literally 200 m from my house, I realise that is the sensible option and wander around at about 2100. Cofe I owe you £2. Some nice beers, some less nice music and some seriously heavy rain. Doyle, Nige, Adam and Keith turn up. We chat, I go to tescos to buy a pie, home to cook it and to watch the end of sniper 2 - (dog5h1t - seriously one of the worst films i have ever seen).

By sunday morning the previous evenings downpour has been forgotten, so I bimble around the house until my tired fiance gets home. We go to Spoilt for Choice on Eccy road. Its a sandwich shop, but a cut above your bacon heavy standard affair. Sit in the botanical gardens to eat, then put her in bed for an hour so she can get up in time for Gimphanger. I wake her up and bundle her in the car. It costs £5 to get in, but its worth it to see the final. Dylog and Lucy, and Dr Pinch are already in situ. I have taken beers in, concealed in my coat as theres no beer festival again. Well missing a trick there Heasonator - I know its something to do with a single person on the committee, but perhaps they could have an 'accident' before next year?!

So, Keith is disappointed, having missed the cut by one point. Dave and Ned are both through. Ned qualified first so will be out last. Dave is out first. He tries valiantly but doesnt get on with a sloping feature. Next out might be Roddy? cant really remember, so lets just cut to the chase - its all about Dave Barrans, Gaz and Ned. Both flash the first two problems, bish bash wallop. Then it gets harder. Here's dave on problem two :

Dave on choad roof

Ned interprets it another way :

So with those two on level points the gear stepped up one, and at this point Gaz dropped out of the running, leaving it up to Barrans and Ned to thrash it out for the title. It was all about the last two problems. Problem 4 - Barrans ruined it - anhiliated the thing - "Get em boys!". Ned steps up, I am sure he is going to do the business, but no, he tries a wack method, fails and has to try again but is struggling, I fear its over for Ned, but he manages to scuttle to the last move - everyone is baying for him to do it but he misses a foot move and falls. Gutted. Doesnt manage to get back there. As Barrans comes out to do the last problem, Ned sits down. If Ned is to win, then Dave cannot do this problem - and he can't! In a world where you want everyone to do well, then you certainly want your friends to do better. I know Dave, climbed with him a few times and I like him and he is straaaang, but Ned is one of my closest climbing friends, and so I want him to do better. Ned comes out. I feel anxious for him - come on Ned - drop the clutch!

Like a torque steering, slightly over powered souped up Astra Ned sets off, completely misses the first hold and is deposited on the mats. Oh no! my dreams are shattered - does this mean Barrans has won? no! Ned presses the Sport button and like Monica Seles he growls and powers his way through the first move - boom! he switches into overdrive and breezes past Barrans high point - now he is on it, there isnt force in the world which could detach the ginger ninja from the wall at this point, the next moves are dispatched with casual aplomb and ned matches the top jug spins around and lets out a war cry! yeaaaahahhahaha! we all go wild - Ned does it! Champ for another year! Here he is on the final problem :

Battle over, we arent completely sure who has won - both have done the same number of problems, but Dave didnt hold the bonus on this last one, whilst Ned did on the one before, so its Ned's - but by a whisker. Dave rushes in to congratulate Nedward :

And finally, here they are accepting their prizes

The rest of the pics are on my FlickR. Went to the tor this morning (at 0730!), it was cool, but still no wind, so didnt make much progress.