Be The Jam

The Jungle is Neutral

F Spencer Chapman.

Things are moving on.

Yesterday I had a chat with Nick from Off-grid and it was decided that Off-grid would host this blog as of sometime in the not too distant future, I suppose it is a bit of a merger / buy out by Off-grid. The really good thing about this is that this move is going to generate some income for the expedition and will at least cover the costs of connecting to the internet via a satellite phone from the middle of the jungle, it might also cover the purchase of some equipment as well. This is a great leap forwards. The purpose of setting up the travel guide was to generate income to cover communications costs, but so far it has just been using up my time and not paying off to any meaningful extent. So whilst things may not work out exactly as planned (and when do they?) one of the major components of the trip is now in place. This now means that I can use my time more productively, training, getting a full time job and hopefully writing some much improved blog entries.

Huzah.

On the subject of blog entries I guess I should try to fill you in on the latest developments in training and preparation for the jungle.

I appear to be taking a crash course in how to sleep despite all the weird and disturbing noises of the jungle. My lecturers are, to my best guess, three young tawny owls who are fighting a territorial battle by screeching at each other all night long, silent killers my arse. Either that or three very loud mice are stuck in a tree and require someone to call the fire brigade. Last night, as every night recently I didn't get to sleep until about three am and then it was the result of sheer exhaustion rather than a cessation in noise from the neighbours.

I am though, becoming increasingly reliant on those things that are to be found naturally occurring in woodlands; wild raspberries, wild strawberries, birch bark, goose grass and of course, fire wood. I have cast a covetous eye over the increasingly tasty looking rabbits and deer with whom I share my eye and have considered renewing my acquaintance with some of the fungi and roots that are found in abundance about the place. At the risk of sounding a bit of a tosser I feel myself becoming more attuned with the environment around me and I'm starting to live with it rather than struggle against it. STARTED is all, there is a long way to go before I would consider myself to be in anyway competent at what I'm doing and I'm going to need to be competent to survive in the jungle. That's why I'm still living in the woods.