As slow as possible

Today was supposed to be a frantic rush of last minute preparations interspersed with work deadlines. Instead all of the pieces of work fell into place yesterday, leaving today free.

What a gift!

I thought I might sneak off for a surf. The beast swallowed my surfing kit for the trip to the beach, only to return with it all in the same dry condition. The waves were appalling!

Instead I found myself at mass. That’s right, church on a Wednesday morning. It was beautiful, better than the surfing could ever have been. It struck me that throughout the world, all day, every day, hundreds of masses are being said. That there are people praying for others, all of the time! I found that comforting, and added my own prayers to the pot.

Now I have a whole day to do the things I need to do, at the slowest possible pace!

Which by the way is the secret to climbing Kili; doing it at the slowest possible pace. It is said that smokers and overweight people are most likely to summit. Smokers have an advantage because they are used to breathing less oxygen, and overweight people are used to going slower. Young fit people are least likely to summit because they go too fast and don’t acclimatise. Essentially the atmospheric pressure at the top of Kilimanjaro is only 20% of that at sea level. In other words, it is five times harder to get the same amount of oxygen into ones lungs.

Climbing this mountain is going to teach me a lot!

I am going to push technology to the limit and post directly to my blog from the mountainside. I hope you will follow my journey with a wry smile and lots of enthusiasm!