This week is one of our annual telethon events - Comic Relief - and while I’d happily write them a cheque to NOT show it, other people have other views. The actual telethon is broadcast tomorrow and I shall be making a point of missing all of it. I don’t mind donating as long as I don’t have to watch the thing. However there is another related program on at the moment that my Dad is watching and which, surprisingly, has some points of interest for me. A bunch of “celebrities” went on a fund raising expedition climbing Kilimanjaro and this program is about that. I put celebrities in quotes because I have watched it on and off for the last thirty minutes and I don’t recognize any of them. I checked the names in the TV guide and a couple are vaguely familiar though I couldn’t put the names and faces together if my life depended on it.
A lot of these things look phoney because of the cameras but I’d have to say that this one looks authentic enough, and has raised a lot of memories. I’ve never been up Kilimanjaro but I have been up and down mountains in the Alps, the Himalayas and the Andes and the program has reminded in turn of all of them. A bit that definitely struck a chord with we was when one of them, apparently disc jockey Chris Moyles, crawled into his tent and showed the cameras how he lays out his kit and then took a pair of training shoes from his bag before waxing lyrical about the joys of taking off his boots at the end of the day.
So, sweaty aching feet and tiny tents seemed familiar. Also altitude sickness and the back, knee and foot problems suffered by various members of the team. Now that I come to think of it my holidays aren’t actually all that much fun are they? Well they are really. No, honestly.
Here’s a true story.
I was doing the Inca trail. Anybody who has done it, and there are plenty, will tell you that there is one killer day when you spend hours going up an unrelenting hill. And a steep one at that. It was exhausting but not really a problem. OK it rained all day and that makes it so much more difficult. Nevertheless it wasn’t a problem. The problem was the last bit where you have a relatively easy downhill hour to the camp. The trouble was that my knees were wobbly, the ground was wet and slippery and my boots weren’t the best quality. Frequent slips banged my toes against the caps of the boots. By the time we got to camp my toe nails were black. I was reluctant to let them pierce them, preferring to see how they felt next morning.
How they felt was terrible. I couldn’t put my boots on. My solution was to wear several pairs of soft thick socks, plastic bags over them to keep them dry and training shoes with the toes cut out of them. I know what you’re thinking. He calls that a holiday? Well the upside was I had my own guide for the day. There was no way I could possibly keep up with the others so I would be arriving at the next camp hours behind them. The weather had improved and I spent the day ambling along, well limping actually, looking at the beautiful scenery, chatting with my guide and having a rare old time. I actually really enjoyed the day and completely forgot about the pain in my feet.
OK, the remaining few days of the trip soon reminded me about the pain and by the time I got home a week later I’d lost both nails and had my toes wrapped in cotton wool. I can tell you from experience that toes without toenails feel really weird.
The point is that I’ve had all sorts of problems when I’ve been hiking and they don’t matter, it’s still fun.
Anyway, tomorrow I shall give a donation to the telethon but ONLY on condition that I don’t have to watch the damned program.
A lot of these things look phoney because of the cameras but I’d have to say that this one looks authentic enough, and has raised a lot of memories. I’ve never been up Kilimanjaro but I have been up and down mountains in the Alps, the Himalayas and the Andes and the program has reminded in turn of all of them. A bit that definitely struck a chord with we was when one of them, apparently disc jockey Chris Moyles, crawled into his tent and showed the cameras how he lays out his kit and then took a pair of training shoes from his bag before waxing lyrical about the joys of taking off his boots at the end of the day.
So, sweaty aching feet and tiny tents seemed familiar. Also altitude sickness and the back, knee and foot problems suffered by various members of the team. Now that I come to think of it my holidays aren’t actually all that much fun are they? Well they are really. No, honestly.
Here’s a true story.
I was doing the Inca trail. Anybody who has done it, and there are plenty, will tell you that there is one killer day when you spend hours going up an unrelenting hill. And a steep one at that. It was exhausting but not really a problem. OK it rained all day and that makes it so much more difficult. Nevertheless it wasn’t a problem. The problem was the last bit where you have a relatively easy downhill hour to the camp. The trouble was that my knees were wobbly, the ground was wet and slippery and my boots weren’t the best quality. Frequent slips banged my toes against the caps of the boots. By the time we got to camp my toe nails were black. I was reluctant to let them pierce them, preferring to see how they felt next morning.
How they felt was terrible. I couldn’t put my boots on. My solution was to wear several pairs of soft thick socks, plastic bags over them to keep them dry and training shoes with the toes cut out of them. I know what you’re thinking. He calls that a holiday? Well the upside was I had my own guide for the day. There was no way I could possibly keep up with the others so I would be arriving at the next camp hours behind them. The weather had improved and I spent the day ambling along, well limping actually, looking at the beautiful scenery, chatting with my guide and having a rare old time. I actually really enjoyed the day and completely forgot about the pain in my feet.
OK, the remaining few days of the trip soon reminded me about the pain and by the time I got home a week later I’d lost both nails and had my toes wrapped in cotton wool. I can tell you from experience that toes without toenails feel really weird.
The point is that I’ve had all sorts of problems when I’ve been hiking and they don’t matter, it’s still fun.
Anyway, tomorrow I shall give a donation to the telethon but ONLY on condition that I don’t have to watch the damned program.
1 comment:
I've always loved camping, cooking over an open fire, etc. Most of my friends don't understand it at all.
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