MJ rules ok

30 Jun 2009

Following one more night of falling off that dreaded move I woke on Friday 19th June feeling fed up. I texted Nic: ‘I wish I was with you’. Did I really mean it? He was at Sonar, Barcelona, I was grumpy in Sheffield. I’ve been twice before to the electronic music festival. Whilst Barcelona definitely is my thing, techno isn’t.

At 9.30am the thought occurred that I really did mean it. I mean, how can a weekend in Barcelona, whatever you’re doing, not be fun. By 9.45am I was on the phone to Tom. His flight was leaving that lunchtime. I had three quarters of an hour to book tickets and pack. It was surprisingly simple and I found myself on a plane.

That evening I sat sipping a gin and tonic with a Sonar ticket in my pocket. Sonar is one of the classiest music events you could possibly go to and in my case it doesn’t really matter if all that plinky, plonky, bleepy stuff, which my husband lives for, sounds like clatter in my ears.

Orbital

You can’t go wrong with the headline acts. Above is Orbital rocking the party on the Saturday night. The lighting is always gobsmacking… But I like to throw in my own bit of mainstream. Most techno addicts would gawp at my take on Sonar, but this clip seems remarkably appropriate for this moment in time.

Clearly this guy knows what a good tune actually is. I agree with him. James Pants (DJ) provided the best set of the festival for me – choosing to play something from every genre at Saturday’s day event.



I have scoured my friends to share in my sadness at Michael Jackson’s passing away. Where is that guy at Sonar when I need him? Ignoring the recent past, he is my music hero. I’ve revelled in the many recent tribute TV shows. Below is my all time favorite bit of footage.  Check out combing his hair, those leg kicks and of course the moonwalk.  It’s given me an excuse to chuck on Off the Wall and throw some shapes in the kitchen. What a wonderful but tragic life.



Anyway, it’s eye of the tiger time for me. Sonar gave me the refocus I needed. Say no to work and yes to the campus board.  I seem to be stronger and the weather looks to be cooling soon.  Give me one more week and I’ll be clasping that crimp. Watch this space.

Caviar frustration

16 Jun 2009

So, Caviar is certainly not going down without a battle. I can officially now say, having fallen 8 times in the same place, that the problem is psychological. Each time I am just that little bit closer and have even held the crucial hold twice only to let go. This route is challenging me like no other. A few days ago I was convinced I would do the route that day, but I've had to humble in my approach.  My mood has changed from all out frustration to thoughtful consideration about the small changes I have to make in my head to reach success. 

On longer routes you can afford to make a couple of errors but on this one, no chance. If I shake the wrong arm out, hesitate a moment too long or certainly get that blasted crinkly pinch slightly wrong, I’m off.  But trying hard enough seems to be one of the main problems. Just when I think I'm trying really hard, I fall and know I could have tried just a bit more. This is the first route I need to combine complete precision with aggression at just the right moments. I’ve never had to do this before.

To be honest I am actually paying for all that fun on the gritstone/sandstone slabs. And somehow or other life got very busy again. Whenever I think things are just in the right balance, something tips it. A whole host of people came to stay and as ever work has been busy. So, even if I wasn’t trying Caviar, I’m not sure I’d have had much time to do anything else.

Ellie Crucifix

I shouldn’t complain too much about work – I had a day at Almscliff with Ellie, a day at Doveholes (in Northumberland) with Mel and worked on an SPA assessment in the sun. Getting paid to top up your tan can’t be bad.  Ellie's local crag is Almscliff (lucky her) - there's nothing like getting your local crag dialled.  I pointed her at the classics and some projects to work on.  The picture is of Ellie doing the Crucifix; a big moment in anyone's climbing career I would say.

Not to mention last minute coaching preparation for all the Yorkshire BRYCS hopefuls. Ellie, Jack, Jake and Beth, who I all coach are climbing this Saturday at the Westway for the national BRYCS final. Things are very busy my end – still haven’t made up my decision to go yet. I'll be there in mind... GO FOR IT!!!!

PS Interviews with Nic Sellers and Mia Stacey about getting your head in gear for onsight trad are now up.  I'm afraid there's been a delay with Tom Briggs. I'm very keen to get his view as he's recently onsighted Conan the Librarian E6 (Gogarth) and From a Distance E7 (Pembroke), two routes he's been 'saving'.  We all know about that one - how do you finally make the decision to actually get on a route...