Be The Jam

Some people seem to think that the idea to punt down the Amazon is a silly one. They think I'm joking. They think it can't be done. They didn't reckon on the amazing potential inherent in any collusion between the intensely stupid and the internet.

I would like to thank Google for showing me that it is possible to make a punt out of bamboo and that bamboo grows in South America, both of these facts are new to me. Better yet with the power of email I even managed to find someone who hasn't said it is impossible, Ian. Best of all I found a map of of South America on the map and right smack bang in the middle of Brazil on the river Amazon is a place called Manaus, according to Ian Manaus is a city of 1,000,000 people. I'm going to meet him there with a bottle of Talisker, he is bringing something far more lethal.

All I have to do then is make a raft and float down stream until I get to a city of 1,000,000 people; even I can't miss a city in the middle of a forest. Manaus is only 14 hours by truck from Guyana from where it is possible to get a flight back to the UK with a stop over in Trinidad - hopefully at no extra cost if I talk to the nice lady from the airline again.

I wrote to Pims the other day and asked them if they would like to sponsor a trip to South America to punt down the Amazon, they never got back to me. I think I even started the letter with a cheery "What ho" to set the tone, there is no pleasing some people.

I'm going to investigate the possibility of punting to London on a home made raft from Oxford, I bet Crispin and Calvin will be keen to come along.