Bowery Mural

Wee Jeemy - RIP!

Friday 24 October 2008

Hi all
It is with regreat (but not sadness) that i announce the demise/death of Wee Jeemy (the moose). He died at approx 11.45pm on Tuesday 21st October 2008 whilst trying to eat a bit of Mars Bar from one of the many traps laid around the room. It knocked him clean oot!! and by the time the First Aid (Jimuck) got to him he had gone to meet his maker. Gone but deffo NOT sadly missed. I just hope he didn't have any wee pals over to stay - eeek!!

OK normal service will resume tomorrow with trek talk and no more moose talk. Promise!

cheers
Ange xx

Wow ... i'm knackered!!

Saturday 18 October 2008

Hey

I wonder when it was that i had this strange idea that some things in life could be easy? Driving test - no bother; climbing a munro – hard but good; trekking at altitude to Everest base camp – hard but very rewarding; trying to catch a wee mouse about 3 inches long – torture, nightmare, a living hell!!!...

After quite a stressful past few days I sit here blurry-eyed typing in the safe haven of the office. I've just spent my 4th night in a row in my new bed – my Rab sleeping bag on the couch!! Suppose i’d better get used to camping out for when i’m trekking. And although camping out in the living room wasn’t exactly the practice run i had in mind, needs must.

You may be wondering the reason for this mini-adventure. Well it is because of Wee Jeemy – the mouse that has now been camped out in my bedroom for 2 weeks!!!!!! Aaaarrrgghh. All joking aside it’s really starting to get to me, to creep me out even and just when i thought we’d got him, (i.e. no mouse activity) he scuttled about my room last night again at 10 past 12 last night!!! I jumped out the bed and shouted on my dad - lame i know but it's sooo creepy. At first i could only hear him but then i caught sight of him running along the skirting boards and almost jumped out of my skin. My dad proceeded to spend then next hour with a brush trying to coax it out but alas he was too quick and at 1.10am he finally gave up and closed the door.

The next thing to do was to get my clothes and stuff out of the room for work. For this task my mum was called into action. She appears to be much braver than i thought. I sent her in for trousers from the wardrobe he's hiding behind and then i manage to grab a few essentials for the next few days. I fear i will be camped on the couch for another couple of nights.

I know you must be thinking ‘it’s only a wee mouse’, well i thought the same at the start but now it is really starting to get to me not being able to go to the place that was my solace – my bedroom, now i can’t relax there until he’s gone!!!! There are now several traps strategically placed around the floor but alas this one is no ordinary mouse, he’s a fly guy! Even had the cheek to manage to take bits of food from the 2 traps without them going off! Hhhhmmmm. Every hole in the skirting boards and in cupboards have been filled, the window is in the catch, the radiator has been turned off so there’s no heat and the bait has been set so heaven knows how he's getting in and more to the point where was he hiding yesterday after noon when i hoovered the place for the 8th time this week!!! Fingers crossed he will be gone soon and i can hopefully relax and de-camp from the living room. Mouse trapping tips would be greatfully appreciated.

Anyway apart from that i feel like i am hitting a brick wall with the fundraising, training and that. I had 3 intensive physio sessions and ventured out in the hills on Sunday to see if any knee pain came on. The good news is that it took a it longer for the pain to come on, the bad news was that it was still as sore as previously. I am totally gutted at this as the doubts about my trek are starting to appear again. I don't know what I'm going to do now. The physio said there was an improvement in my knee and ankle and i can definitely feel that my thigh is a bit better – although I’m a bit tender and bruised from all of the pummelling! If there is no improvement then I’m afraid it’s a trip to the Doc. Hopefully this time he’ll give me much more than 3 minutes and a prescription for a box of Ibuprofen!

As far as the fundraising goes well... I am getting there, but very slowly. Thanks to those fantastic people at work who have helped me by baking yummy cakes and also to everyone who has sponsored me so far. More funds are needed though – please give generously. When i set out on this journey i thought i had nothing better to do than to ask a few people and write a few letters to various companies but so far i have had no reply, nada, nothing, zilch, zero! Not even to my requests for prizes to raffle off. I wasn’t thinking of anything major like a 2 week break to the Bahamas (aaah wouldn’t that be lovely just now) but just something simple like a voucher for a meal at local restaurants, cinema tickets.... you get the drift. I have had one VERY generous cheque in the mail from a nice man at NISSEI AS Ltd but on this occasion i did have the advantage of him being an associate of one of my uncles which helped. Anyway very soon i will be staked out in my local supermarket (that rhymes with fresco) and will be packing bags for a day so if you are in the vicinity on one of the following days – 8th or 22nd November or 14th December - i’ll pack your bags ... for a price!

All of the above has made my week very challenging indeed. It started off great last Monday too with a nice meal at the MacRobert with Dorothy, Linda and Brigitte. I’ll be getting that pancake again!! Yum.

Tiring, knackered, stressed, fun, laughter, hard work – these are some words to sum up my week that has passed. I hope that the new week dawning will be much better though. If you too have had a tough week i suggest you join me to celebrate the new better week to come by listening to one of my favourite songs: Chocolate – Snow Patrol http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LHTZd9bV6NY


Cheers for now
Ange xx

A litte trek taster...

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Hey
how is everyone? Yeah you two whom i know reads this! :)
Anyway I was browsing the medium that is the World Wide Web last night (whilst trying not to be too scared from Wee Jeemie) i came across some pretty cool vidoes of treks to Base Camp that people have done. I'm going to try to upload/attach them to this blog but this may turn out to be a disaster. If all else fails go to YouTube, type in Everest Trekking and some videos should appear. OK, here goes ......
.....
.....
It never worked so here's the links:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YGM-C3Ah6Ys
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6kdbw5NasQ8
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uV4Ok0kuQCI and
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PmRJo8RQ5sA ......
.....
......
ok ok so that last one wasn't a trekking video but it's a good song and whilst perusing the site that is YouTube i decided to keep it!

hope you all like
be good
Ange xx