Unfortunate

That's how the dentists described my teeth, unfortunate!
They're just funny shaped, with gaps the wrong size, grooves in the wrong places. Before modern dental treatment I'm willing to bet that by aged 40 I'd be one of those people with no teeth! I think he's fixed it, the gap between two teeth was filling with food as he reshaped a filling on a previous treatment, he's now really gone to town on this filling to stop food getting in to the gap. Fingers crossed it seemed to have worked.
If not I have to make a phone call to my Dad and say I can't work tomorrow, I start my PGCE on Monday and taking a morning off to go to the dentists isn't an option I really want to take.

The long awaited video

So it's taken me a while, bu the latest masterpiece from what Lex likes to call flaccid productions is here. It's a long one, 16 minutes, so it's on google video instead of youtube, and has taken most of yesterday to edit, but I think it shows promise!
Thanks go to all my stunning subjects, particulary as this time you obliged me with some footage of problems being successfuly climbed! (I should say sent, but I just can't bring myself to do it!)
The rest of today will be spent restocking on food, trying to sort out how I've had a student overdraft for 3 years and have never been charged for it, but don't appear to have a student account!
I'll also spend the rest of the day moaning to myself about my tooth, after 5 dentists appointments this year most of which focusing around this one tooth I am still in pain, I'm getting close to telling him to pull the damned thing out and be damned with the hard to see gap it makes, especially as I start my course in 1 week and I can't take 3 or 4 mornings off to drive back to get several fillings done. Still at least it hasn't cost me a fortune in fees, just in petrol!

itching my way through the day

The midge bites, yep still itch, they have resisted zirtek, piriton and every anti intching, anti allergic reaction cream in my Mum's pharmacy/first aid kit (quick question, if anybody wants to answer, what html do I need to type to get words striked through?)
However I am being strong,and somehow have not scratched to the point of drawing blood, given everyone (apart from Lex), who I have shown these bites to has winced I think this is very impressive.
As well as being as looking like a walking dot to dot puzzle I also had to go the dentists, 3 more fillings, if I carry on this way I will have no teeth left. i will hasten to add that my dentist assures me I brush my teeth correctly, but I just have bad teeth, food gets stuck in the gaps between them, and I have many many crevices for nasty things to happen. So yet again I have a sore mouth, however in comparison to getting a root canal done it was a walk in the park. So for this year I reckon I'm on a root canal, and maybe 4 ordinary fillings, a polish, and 4 x-rays, the bil, (thank god I have a NHS dentist), less than £150, wooo tits!
More food has been cooked, like last year, I'm off to chatsworth country fair to help with the mountain rescue fundraising tomorrow, have I packed no, but I do know the location of my wellies, and more importantly I have cake!
Currently looking at the living room, and deciding if I need to clean, or if I should just chuck the throws back on the sofa and blow it. I think the latter option may win, I have changed the bed however, and while I may not have prepared tea I at least know what I will cook. Excuse me while I go for a good scratch.

In true modern multi-tasking style

This is being written while watching Tribe. I've just got out of the bath, which was aimed to ease the hundreds of midge bites ( I would take a photograph, it's a bit like a huge dot-to-dot puzzle, but Lex would laugh!), which I got today while out teaching climbing. I came back from what is my thoroughly modern job, 50 years ago climbing instructors didn't exist, to that age old task, the washing. Lex and I only went away for 3 days, but the amount of stuff required, and more crucially the amount of washing created in unbelievable!
We're on 2 loads today, with another 2 in the wash basket still, even worse I'm going home for a day to do some more instructing as a favor to a friend, and also to get my fillings sorted so I will be able to eat sweet things without wincing again!
There are photos from the holiday, and even another video, but I don't think I'll et chance to download them until next week, patience is a virtue and all that!

I'm back

I think it's safe to say August has been a pretty rubbish month for posts, with this one I'll have done 7, with only 8 days of the month left, and I'm away for 3 of those, yep I'm off on holiday again!
I've just got back from a week in Pembrokeshire with my family, it's where we've been lots. and have been going since I was tiny, think baby tiny. Yes my parents were that mad breed who'd take a virtual new born camping! It's been a lovely week, just soooo god damn windy. The sort of wnd that keeps you awake at night, and makes you feel like your brains are being blown out. It wasn't untill the last day that the wind was finally in a direction where we could climb out of the wind, and I actually removed enough clothed to get sun burnt!
I arrived back last night and got ready to go away this weekend, though I'm a little behind on that, but I have done 3 loads of washing. If anyone would like to share with me how they housetrained a male member of the species please let me know. Lex has yet to manage putting the dirty shirt he takes off at night in the wash basket!
Next up, shopping for food, finding the camping stuff, and starting my packing as I'm at work again tomorrow, oh and going to give blood as they keep sending me letters saying stocks are running low and I'll feel guilty about not going.

It's all about the kids and not the money, honest

I've been at work again for the last 3 days. Monday was spent teaching outside with a family of 5. The weather was ok, apart from at lunch, just as I'd gone to change where our rope was the heavens opened, and where was I? Stuck at the top. Where were my waterproofs? At the bottom, as a result I got a trifle soggy!
Tuesday was spent indoors, luckily as the weather was fowl, with a interesting group of kids. There were 14 from London here on holiday, they were inner city kids, and were so so loud, everything was done at a shout. It's unbelievable how that level of noise wears you out if you're trying to teach. There was also the weird kid who couldn't stop saying sorry, for everything even if it's not his fault. I walk in to him because I'm not looking where I'm going, kid says sorry. I ask kid if he's enjoying himself because he doesn't seem very happy, kid apologises for being miserable..... by the end of the day I was ready to wring his sorry little neck!

Today was meant to be spent catching up with all my neglected tasks, like going to the bank, and maybe actually getting prepared for my PGCE, however at 7pm last night I got a phone call asking me if I could do some climbing instruction. The group was meant to go out yesterday but the weather was so bad they couldn't. The instructor was booked up for today, so they needed a different person. Now as I have no money turning down £100 to go to the bank didn't seem very wise! Unfortunately the weather today wasn't very good either, so I spent all day indoors, which was a little wearing as effectively I did the same thing 4 times in 6 hours. However the girls had a great time so that's all that really matters.

Anyway, the main reason I thought I'd better write a post was to say I'm off on holiday for a week with no internet access. I'm off to Pembrokeshire with my family, so Lex will be left to fend for himself for a week.

where have all the climbers gone?

The previous post with this title was changed after I errrrr, rather embarrassingly realised that I'd written a post with no real reference to climbing! ooops, obviously this work thing killed my brain cells.

Anyway, Friday night, after a long week at work I went out climbing with a guy from work (Mark), and a rather brilliant climber who I helped teach to climb (Hannah), and is now a rather good climber. She came 6th at the recent UK junior indoor bouldering championships at Cliffhanger, and 4th at the Junior British Leading championships. If you're not a climber just trust me when I say she's good!

We went to a place called Hen Cloud, which is just 10 minutes away from where I used to live, despite that I've only ever climbed there once before, we did one of the routes that I've done once before, that is supposedly a classic at its grade, i'd say it's alright, and has one desperately hard move if you're under 5'5", even Hannah said so, so it's not me being rubbish! The other 2 routes were also good, though from one I am now sporting a huge number of cuts and bruises after making the novice mistake of thinking that wedging myself in a crack would make things easier!
One notable thing, both at Hen Cloud, which has never been that popular, and at The Roaches, which always is, was the lack of other climbers. It's fair to say that this year has been a bit of a wash out, after a good April June and May were wet, very wet! August however has been a little better, so why on a sunny Friday evening, with a previous week of dry weather, so no wet excuses were there only 6 cars in the lay-by? When I think back to my childhood my Dad used to rush home from work so we could get out there and be able to park!

This weekend has been less adventurous, cooking, cleaning and tidying have been on the agenda, along with a well earned laze about!