This weekend I...

• Took 4 hours to get from Nottingham to Sheffield via the M1. The motorway was closed because of an accident
• Saw a pheasant explode under the wheels of a car
• Lost a false tooth when I 'held' the rope in my mouth as I was about to clip at the climbing wall. Luckily it came off into my mouth and was not lost forever
• Made my wrists and elbows ache bouldering in the cold at Burbage North
• Enjoyed my last days of climbing outdoors for a while - I'm going to be out of the game for a month after having laser eye surgery this week.
• Eek.

I haven't been climbing in over a week. My fingernails have grown so long.
Never fear though, off to Cayleigh tomorrow for bouldering and battling with ferns.

This weekend I

• had a long weekend and spent the Friday on an ‘observation shift’ with the Fire Service
• I had a go at hose rolling (turns out I’m not great at this!)
• did some hose unrolling (more fun that it sounds)
• had a tour of a pump
• went out on two ‘shouts’ – blue lights, sirens and bull horn!
• wore breathing apparatus (BA) in a smoke filled room
• tried out the inflatable pads used to lift vehicles etc
• and had a go with the expansion too

I also

• went mountain biking at Coed y Brenin with Silverstormy
• did my first ever MB route
• then did my second ever route, and made it about 80% of the way round without pushing (some sections were a bit too scary)
• made a mash-up of the two routes above
• let out an involuntary ‘whoop’ on a really good bit
• camped in a car park
• ate a huge piece of cake
• and boil in the bag curry (the best camping food and only £1 a sachet)

This weekend I...

• drove up to Northumberland
• put up my tent singlehandedly, in the dark
• led my first routes for years, including a 'severe' which was a doddle
• ticked my first outdoor 6a boulder problem
• laughed and laughed at my friend's story of waking to find slugs on his face
• temporarily stole my friends sleeping bag
• got a tick and a mosy bite. insects are grim.
• ate cereal in high winds
• got chapped lips from said winds
• took my tent down, singlehandedly in the high winds, without it blowing away (unlike my companions - and there were two of them working on their tent)
• found out I need to go to Cornwall next weekend, never a chore :)

What did you get up to over the Bank Holiday?

This weekend I...

• made popcorn and trashed the good pan
• drove to Leeds, too fast
• campused a 5+, but didn't dare lob for the top
• ate the most amazing home made thai green curry (waves to Claire)
• found the cutest 40s dress (blue with white flowers)
• and a crisp white sailor top at the Vintage Fashion Fair
• bought some short-shorts
• took 5 steps on the slackline - crush!
• sang along to Christina Aguilera all the way home.

How was your weekend?

This weekend I...

• ran 5 miles before 9am on a Saturday
• saw about 30 frogs having a mating frenzy
• inherited a cocktail dress with cocktail recipies on
• nearly bought a suit jacket
• got a carpet burn on the bridge of my nose while trying to win 'the box game' on the stairs
• was too hung over to balance
• went through my finger tips skin after pulling onto only 1 problem at Ramshaw
• wore the worlds biggest jumper
• fell asleep on the sofa

How was your weekend?

Despatches from the Font-line

@ Roche aux Sabots@ 95.2
Check out my fingertips - mantling on a crimp.

Recent times

Looking gloomy at 'Flatworld' at Baslow in the Peak District
Ernie doesn't like posing for photos...

...so he pretends to be asleep

New trainers!

My climbing boots 'Rockstars' by E volve - incredibly small and painful! Mean ass edging power.

The boyfriend at 'the unit'. Some friends built this climbing wall in an industrial unit. It's amazing.

My warm up route consists of holds named: moby, jug, rogan josh, hers, yours to name, bottom and lava lamp.

Blanket inversion - Roaches, Staffordshire.

Some photos of the amazing cloud inversion (where atmospheric conditions mean the cloud is really low, like fog, and you can get above it and look down on it) we saw on NYE 08, as promised.

It was -6 oC in the freezing fog (the cloud inversion) but gorgeous and sunny all day above the clouds.

Snow day!!!!

We're having the best snow here for years and years. Chaos! Cancelled buses! Schools closed! Sledging! Snowball fights!

I still have to go to work though :o(
This is what my journey looked like this morning.

tyre tracks in the snow

bye the time I got to work I was plastered in the white stuff :o)

Week in pictures

I spent three nights this week trying to fix the Subtext website (at the moment I'm still unsuccessful), Claire came round and kept my company one evening - she made felt badges while I scratched my head and struggled with coding.

Went out on Wednesday to see the fireworks at Nottingham castle. Quick drink in the pub before hand.

Unfortunately we didn't get tickets in time & it sold out. Turns out free fireworks are a good deal better!

The weather has been so cloudy and miserable all week - hooray then that the sun is shining today. This is my view from work - the weird spidery reflection is the spider plants in my window.

Parallel lines

Out surveying yesterday I noticed that in this field, when you look down you just see muddy ground, but when you look up, at a angle you can see the scrubby bits of grass shoots are actually perfectly planted parallel lines of grass giving way to a green view.

Lunchtime

I ususally eat my lunch by the Trent. Swans, geese and ducks all like to come by and check if there are crumbs on offer. There never are.

Courgettes success

We ate our first courgette from the garden yesterday! Yum.

Here's a photo of me pissing about to celebrate.

A little bit of film

This pigeon waddled into view, across the top of the garage, as I was cooking tea.
Apparently he wasn't ready for his close-up.


In other news, I'm blogging here again/now too weather-station.blogpsot.com - with an invited guest who will make her appearance any time soon...

Party planning

Browsing blogs, the way you do, I turned me up here and was inspired by the road trip thrift store adventures.

I've been dreaming about a cycle gang for a while now, cruising around second hand shops, eating cakes, looking nuff. As yet I am the only member of said gang as my friends either can't ride bikes or aren't interested in biking about looking for cakes.

Maybe I should turn up at Critical Mass advetising my bike-gang-come-cake-club? Maybe I should draw up some cute ass flyers and leave them all over town in trendy places. Maybe it's easier to advertise it here!

I'm thinking a Saturday a couple of weeks from now. I have access to cycle maps, I can plan a route :o) We could offer croggies to anyone who can't ride...

Residents of the East Midlands, Nottinghamshire locals. Wanna road trip with me?

Don't tell my arms, my achey breaky arms...

I am an achey breaky person today. All over.

'Tis due to a caving excursion over the weekend involving a day of SRT training (single rope technique - that's climbing and descending ropes with gadgets to the non caver) and another day of using practised skills in cave called 'Lost John's'.

There were 5 pitches to abseil down, one of which required you to swing in through a 'window' onto a ledge. And 3 pitches to ascend on the way out (because it was a through trip rather than going back the way you went in). The first pitch of ascent was over 70 ft and was thoroughly knackering.

I feel, and look, like I've been in a fight. Bruiser.

I should have taken my camera.

Chandiler of flowstone in the Spa Cave, Skye

Chandiler of flowstone in the Spa Cave, Skye, originally uploaded by travelling punk.

Here's another snippett of my recent adventurs, this was taken on Skye in March, during a day trip across the the Ilse from Lochalsh where we were staying.

Taken inside the Spa Cave, this is a chandiler of flowstone, made from calcium deposits picked up during water run off through calcerous rock. The calcium is deposited by the water as it trickles down inside the cave.

Usually this is bright white, but the Spa Cave used to be a show cave in Vicotrian times, and the black soot that remains on the walls (and that has now become part of the rock) is residue from the oil lamps that they used to burn during tours.