Everest Base Camp - news

News from the Wanderer arrived this morning:

 Just to let you know I am still alive.

I made it to Everest base camp but did not make it to summit of island peak, was about 20 mins away and gave up, the truth is I was terrified but I am using the high winds has my official excuse, guides said they had never seen such strong winds, it was pretty crazy.

I have been suffering with a horrid cold and under something of a grey blanket this week and I can't tell you how much the news has cheered me up!  This is the other side of the two edged sword I wrote about in my last post!!

No photos but if you Google "Everest Base Camp" you'll find plenty though obviously none of the Wanderer!

Technology a two edged sword?

Is technolgy a double edged sword?  I think e-mails are wonderful and enable me to keep in touch with friends and family without needing to find paper, pen and stamp and then go to the post box and yet........ As you know the Wanderer is away in the Himalayas and in years gone by that would have meant no contact until she got home so I'd be here wondering and worrying (probably no postcards on sale in the mountains either) but with the wonders of modern technology I can receive e-mails from her even though she is so far away for it seems that there is wifi even where she is (though that might not be the case higher into the mountains).  It was wonderful to hear that although she had flown into Lukla airport which is supposed to be the most dangerous and scary airport in the world as the video above will show (if it doesn't play try clicking the bottom left corner or failing that the link instead) she was fine and really enjoying it all so far.  I slept like a log that night.

But then another e-mail arrived yesterday which said that she had been suffering from either a migraine (she used to get these a lot when a teenager but rarely since) or altitude sickness although she was feeling better now, the guide having brought her tea and soup and her trek buddy carrying a small pharmacy with him, and was hopeful that she would be able to continue the trek especially as they were to be a couple of days wherever it is they are now giving her more time to aclimatise.  You can imagine that I was concerned and worried that she might be forced to abort the trek especially as I knew just how frustrated she would be if so.  (I told you I was a good actress didnt I? I personally don't care a jot about her completing the trek of course!)

Now without modern technology I wouldn't have known about any of this and would continue in blissful ignaorance as I wouldn't have known about the airport nor the altitude sickness but neither would I have known whether she'd arrived safely either.  I have a further 3 weeks of worrying to get through till she flies home on 30th!  Yet is she actually any more likely to come to harm in the Himalayas than cycling to work in London?  Can I do anything about any of it?  She is an adult and perfectly capable of making her own decisions and dealing with whatever life throws her way so why are mothers hard-wired to worry all the time - would it be easier if I had several children or would that simply multiply my sleepless nights?

I am learning a lot from her travels though as from barely knowing where Nepal was I now know more about the country, climate, trekking and customs etc having dipped into Lonely Planet Nepal which I got from the library and also reading Michael Palin's Himalaya too.  Now from wondering why on earth anyone would want to go there I can see it might be quite interesting though the long flight from Heathrow (and the short flight from Lukla!), the physicality of trekking for hours along rugged paths, along with sleeping on thin mattresses in tea houses (I know what they are now and have Googled images to see pictures) or as seems likely later on in tents in the freezing cold mean I am unlikely to be following in her footsteps! (I doubt they would accept a 70+ year old trekker with no previous experience anyway)  I will stick with local walks I think as yesterday when I walked through the wood to the post office in the rain slithering about on the mud and needing windscreen wipers on my glasses what a change from earlier in the week when I took the above photos on an earlier trip to post a letter on Monday afternoon.  Might not see Everest on this path but there is no danger of coming face to face with a yeti not of altitude sickness hiking up the slope here!

Thanks for all your supportive comments on my previous posts - glad to know it isn't only me who worries!

This and That

Yesterday morning saw me at the station once again this time I was off to Guildford from where I'd get the bus to Witley where I go to the dentist.  Yes I know it's mad but I have been going to this particular dentist since before we moved to France and even used to fit appointments in with visits to friends during my time living there.  He will be retiring later this year so I will be forced to find another and will then chose to find one nearer home!  The chap in the ticket office joked that I was at the station more often than he was recently!

 Anyway dental appointment over I got the bus back to Guildford where I met up with a friend for lunch and a good gossip and afterwards we walked in the Castle grounds - I used to take my lunch in here sometimes when I worked in Guildford so it was a trip down Memory Lane for me.

Not my sort of gardening really but it was certainly bright.

We loved this though and everywhere even in the manicured beds there were poppies.

Lots of red white and blue in remembrance of the 100th anniversary of WWI.

I noticed this morning an article on the internet about Wi-Fi on trains.  Apparently the government is to spend £90m (I understand some of this money will be from fines paid by Network Railfor missing key punctuality targets) on an upgrade which "means people can more easily work and keep up with friends while on journeys".  Now as you know I am a bit of a Luddite but is this the best use of funds I wonder - why is it that people cannot survive a train journey without being able to do work which entails use of their computers nor to be out of contact with their colleagues for a few hours.  This all made me think about life in the 21st century and to wonder whether coming generations will lose the ability to make real contact with each other.  Does having 100s of "friends" on Facebook, sending constant text messages back and forth to each other or having their attention permanently on their mobile phone screens  mean that some people are living in a "virtual" rather than a real world?  Is virtual contact taking the place of face to face communication, how can one read the messages that as humans we have learned to pick up on when actually with people, what could possibly replace the gentle touch of a hand when someone is upset or grieving and nothing beats a real Hug of course.  Yes technology is wonderful and we do of course interact with people in these new ways which could not have been imagined such a short time ago but surely it should not be allowed to become such a vital part of our daily lives?  Living in the 21st century is wonderful as we are able to chose which parts of modern life we want to make use of and leave the rest and I don't for one moment think that life years ago was necessarily better than now nor that our parents or grandparents lives couldn't have been improved had they had some of the things we now have but let's keep things in perspective and remember those things which were better and not lose sight of real communication between people, eye contact, touch and so on.  Then maybe instead of all these gizmos on the trains we might take time to enjoy the passing scenery, to think, to take time out for the duration of the journey or even heaven forfend to talk to each other!  Am I mad or do you agree with me here?