The Winter Week That Was
Back in February 1983 I had one of the most amazing half-term winter climbing weeks I could ever have dreamed of. Myself and Tony Furniss managed to blag a couple of places on the Eden Valley Mountaineering Club’s booking at the CIC Hut on the Ben. My big dream for the week was that I might feel up to having a crack at Point Five Gully… by the end of the week. The previous winter I’d had my first taste of the classic Grade Vs after being dragged up Vanishing Gully’s lower pitches. I was beginning to dream. And that February half term started out well enough! Being young free and single (i.e. a smelly dirt bag) I got out on the first Saturday, with Phil Rigby, in the Lakes. They were proper winters back then, before we buggered up the atmosphere! We had...
A Long Road To The Most Beautiful Mountain in the World
Many moons ago I was a slightly more energetic version of a wannabe climber. (I emphasise the slightly!) Desperate to escape the football thuggery and skinhead culture that seemed to be the only thing happening in the town where I grew up, I was invited to “go climbing in Wales” by a pal at the town Carnival one September Saturday.Having just started a 6th form Geology O-Level course, rocks, mountains and in particular a hill called Tryfan were on my mind. I managed to scrounge a pair of DMs, dug out an old parka and was dragged over the Carneddau in the clag. I absolutely loved it despite being completely knackered. That night I was introduced to beer without parents: messy!The next day saw us up the N. Ridge of Tryfan and over to Bristly Ridge. Still claggy...
Chat and Chomp: The Finale
A few years back, Phil Hewitson of Carlisle Speakeasy and Caldew Press, roped me into a community project based in Upperby, Carlisle, just around the corner from where I live. The idea was to create a space where people could meet up, have a craic – and do that over a meal. With the support of ST Margaret mary’s Community Centre and an array of councillors from Carlisle City Council as it was then, Chat and Chomp born. Phil’s connection was filming the project for Tony Brown the community organiser who kept the organisation running and did the donkey work of applying for the necessary grants, reporting and MC-ing the Monday lunchtime sessions. The results of those filming projects can be seen here, in the Chat & Chomp: Currock and Upperby...
Climate Disinformation in The Wake of the UN Climate Summit
Because the oil industry is on the back foot now, they are using their obscene wealth to double down on their disinformation PR campaigns globally, to con the gullible into ignoring the blatantly obvious warning signs that we are f*cking up our little spaceship Earth! A friend posted a video from the Youtube channel “Friends of Science” (sic). In it a very “lovely” grandmotherly figure (clearly a cold calculating, cynical, “take the money and run” lying bastard) talks in soothing tones about how Greta and the youngsters (whom she so respects “for standing up for something”) have been misled and how climate change is nothing to do with human activity, but do with natural processes and cycles. Her soothing tones cover...
The Case For A Climbing Wall In a Redeveloped Sands Centre
Recently it came to our attention that the new management of the Sands Centre here in Carlisle, were about to push through changes that would see the Sands’ current climbing wall demolished with no plans to replace it in the new facility. For the City’s growing climbing community it represents a real loss. Pete Gunn, has organised a petition through Change.Org to try and get a rethink on this short sighted decision (IMHO). It’s the only decent sized leading wall in North Cumbria and for those living in the Borders. Kendal’s massive wall is 50 miles away and it’s 60 miles to Newcastle the nearest alternative large lead wall. Under Pete and Davina’s stewardship, it’s open to the public 7 days a week and these two...
On Europe, Refugees and the Rise of Inhumanity!
I just read a post in Linked In by Ban Ki Moon – putting the case for a more humane way of viewing the current refugee crisis. It makes sad reading despite its upbeat tone. The only response so far was from some right wing sounding character who only picked up on the supposed increase in sex attacks in Belgium, completely ignoring the Belgian’s own nasty habit of isolating refugee communities within their country. (or is that just my misreading of the muddied reports that come out about refugee life?). It is however depressing to see the countries who most recently joined the EU for their perceived economic benefit are the ones building Trump’s Wall in Europe while our own astonishingly wealthy, but parasitised country virtually washes its hands...
Climate, Science and the Scourge of the Denialist
Who Do You Put Your Faith In For Climate Change Reality Checks? In the Climate Change and Global Warming debate, human beings are getting very tribal again. The debate is polarising into the Greens and the Denialists. I have to say right at the outset I am a Green (ish). My ire was triggered by the report from climate scientists, publicised on the Mashable blog, that the atmospheric CO2 level has already passed the 400 parts per million (0.004%) this year, weeks earlier than its first recorded 400ppm+ reading last year and its showing now sign of slowing down. (0.002% was more or less the textbook norm that we were taught as young Chemistry school students 40 odd years ago). In my Google Plus feed I noticed that Mashable had put the post out publicly and as...