Be The Jam

That was not supposed to happen.

My approach to skiing was that the thing that results in people getting injured is the fear of being injured; if you approach things with a positive attitude things tend to come out better you see. If you think you are going to get hurt then you are more likely to hesitate and so bring about the very injuries that you are trying to avoid. It is a good theory and one that I stand by, however the splint on my leg suggests that perhaps the theory needs some modification, such as confidence does not make up for a lack of technical skill.

Only having one working leg might well cause some disruption to the scampering up mountains to live in the snow plan.

So here I am, I have for once a quiet moment and a computer to myself that is free of charge to use. However, this does not necessarily mean that I can at this time express the things that I am currently thinking with any degree of lucidity. I am feeling rather tired. At 8:40 this morning four of us were the very first people on the slopes, cutting up a 3 kilometer run across virgin snow, screaming through the chill winter air at max speed and really having quite a good time of it. I got back home at about 4pm having only briefly stopped skiing and only having one limb still intact, the other three having taken the brunt of many a high speed collision with the ground. Right now I am very tired; too much fresh air and exercise followed by lots of good food and a couple of beers will do that to a chap. The reason for mentioning this is to expalin that whilst I have the opportunity to explain what is going on I might not be able to do so on account of my brain not working properly anymore. Before I descend further into the realm of jibba jabba I shall attempt to explain myself. Yadda yadda.

There is a problem with the going to the jungle plan and this is that I can't afford to do it. This isn't a fatal problem to the plan but it is certainly a bit of an inconvienience and is definately delaying matters. There are a couple of routes that I am investigating that might well provide funding but I am having to address the possibility that the money might not arrive.

Man I need to sleep.

OK abridged version.

Currently thinking of changing the fundraising approach to one of spending a year living out in every continent and building my way up to South America / Jungle via Italian Alps, Thailand, Africa, North America and Australia. Seems like a big adventure, but also something that would not necessarily come with a pension plan.

Big plans lack of brain power or even time to think.

Ho hum.

Does anyone have any bright ideas on how to raise the £5 - 10,000 that going to live in the jungle for a year will cost?

The last couple of months have come as quite a relief after 18 months of living outside and working towards Mission Improbable, having a period of time in which to sleep in a comfortable bed and being largely cut off from the internet has meant that I have taken a bit of a break from things. Physically I am rested, and to be honest getting a bit too attached to sleeping in a bed - it gets harder to get up every morning. Planning the expedition had got to the point of taking over my life, every waking moment and a lot of those whilst I was asleep was pretty much concerned with planning and trying to fundraise. Coming here to Italy meant I took a break from all that and even though working as a chef can be quite hard work a change is as good as a break as they say. Now though the holiday feeling has come to an end and I am back on the case with a new sense of urgency, refreshed and ready to go.

I have started working on my fitness in preperation for the physical hardships ahead, running at altitude is an intereseting business, the first couple of times I went out I thought my lungs were going to explode out of my chest by the time I had got to the end of the driveway. Now though things are getting better (maybe I am just running more slowly now) and with the increased physical wellbeing comes an increased mental allertness that should help in the ongoing challenge that is to raise sufficient money to get to South America. The possibility has recently arrisen that I may be able to get a job in South America or the Caribbean, this could be useful in terms of getting to the right part of the world.

All of a sudden life has got complicated again.

Sweet

Have a nice day yàll

Still it snows, lots and lots of the stuff. Not having seen proper snow before I have to say that I am rather taken with the stuff, not only is it fun to, jump in, slide on and throw at people it is also very aesthetically pleasing. Last night I took a break from watching the A Team and went for a walk into the woods, it reminded me how much more satisfying it is to spend time in the countryside than to sit around watching TV all day, even if what you are watching is the A team!!

Other news

Radio 4's Saturday Live has been in touch and are interested in talking to me about this woods living business so, provided some mode of communication can be found, I should be wiffling away on your airwaves next Saturday morning. If that doesn't send you back to sleep nothing will.

Anyhow this is where I live, see mucho snow like I say.

http://www.fassa.com/cms-01.00/articolo.asp?IDcms=6225&s=345&

Finally it has started snowing.

Recently you see all the snow that had fallen in december had started to melt and all everything was starting to look dull and miserable, the temprature was up above freezing and so there seemed to be little challenge offered by living outside. Now though things have changed, much snow has fallen and everything is pretty again. Now there is a bit of a challenge to be offered by silly ideas such as living outdoors so a bit of investgation needs to be done now.

Being somewhat battered and bruised from a busy couple of days falling down various mountains whilst I have chosen to take a day off from skiing to recuperate. To my amazement the internet cafe in the village is open and so here I am typing away trying not to let on that I have forgotten what it was that I was going to write about.

That was it, skiing, skiing is kind of fun but not necessarily enough in and of itself to compensate for having a badly paying job with uncivilised hours. Not having decent access to the internet means that in the last six weeks I have managed to achieve virtually nothing towards the organisation of the expedition and so whilst I am having fun Iàm not getting to achieve anything and unfortunately this translates itself into a feeling of pointlessness. So it may mean that in order to get things rolling I have to bail out of Italy and go somewhere from which I can work on the expedition and save some money towards it.

Well I donàt often get the chance to get to the internet and when I do it mostly does not work.

Will this post?

It is not loking promising

Oh there it is.

Well it is cold here, plenty of snow, bit of climbing, bit of cooking, living inside is begining to get a bit much. It would be OK but I am sharing a flat with 5 others and I kind of got used to having my own space.

Went climbing the other day and found the perfect place that someone could live tucked away from the snow. There would even be handy access to running water if the river was not frozen solid.

Skiing is harder that it looks.

"Bring me my whangee, my yellowest shoes, and the old green Homburg"

Bertram Wooster

So that's that then, I have left the ditch, no more am I a dweller of the woods. For the next two days I'm living at Rob's flat in London, where I will be making full use of the electric lights etc, and then on Wednesday I move out to Italy where I will be living in a house for a bit. I suppose that I should write a poignant reflection on what the last 18 months have meant to me and spend a moment in quiet contemplation before moving on. Unfortunately I am not really at liberty to indulge in such niceties today on account of the rather potent medication the doctor gave me on Friday.

"May cause drowsiness" it says.

"May cause a complete shut down of all higher level brain functions, grinning, an inability to move, and drowsiness" is what I would write on the box where I to have the job of so doing.

Not, I hasten to add, that there is anything that wrong with me. Something is askew with my inner-ear says the doctor, this was quite a relief as I had typed my symptoms into NHS direct online and they told me to call an ambulance. I booked an appointment with my GP instead, don't like to cause a fuss, before returning to the interweb to write my obituary and to try to figure out what was wrong with me. From what I could glean I had either had a stroke or was about to have a heart attack so as you can imagine I was most relieved to be told to take a few tablets and it should clear up. Not that the symptoms were without merit. Waking up to find the world spinning uncontrollably was mildly amusing for a moment or two and loosing balance and having t me to grasp hold of the nearest object for fear of falling was a bit of a giggle but it does make people give one a bit of a wide birth, it can also be a bit worrisome if it occurs when untying a rope from the top of a tree. Somehow I preferred the symptoms to the side effects of the medicine which has left me feeling very slow and rather stupid, hence not being able to reflect upon the year that has past / quiet get round to doing all the things that I'm supposed to be doing.

It's very annoyinjg