Mr Cropley

I arrived at Ratho this afternoon at exactly the right moment. James, Nicola and Ian had jsut paused for coffee - so I joined the round, and sat down with them.

Ian is a resilient chap, with a cutting sense of humour. The kind of guy where what you get isn't quite what you first expect - who, as a result, you're not quite sure about at first - but whose accepting manner grows on you over time. Although it's rarely the first thing to come out of his mouth, most of what he has to say is an encouragement.

I expect he'll read this. I wonder what he'll think!


Anyway, I was looking forward to a bit of exercise after an otherwise sedentary weekend. And not only a sedentary weekend, but one which brought with it its own challenges for the future (yesterday's entry). So, wired on the caffeine, we headed down the stairs to the area, and I jumped on some routes.

My usual warm up felt good, and I'd some warm jackets to wear to keep warm between climbs. I saw no reason to wait about, and jumped straight on a newly set 7b+ as my second route. Gaz - its not 7b+! But it is awesome :). After taking a few whippers from that (though not as big as others I saw in the arena today (see this...!), and then some more off a new 7c time was up- Where did 6pm come from?

Anyway, I'd also intended to pop in to Tisos up the stairs to say hi to folk during the day. I'd not needed any new kit for a while to give me a reason to pop in. So, after finding that the gym shut at 6 too (I'd thought 7, for some reason...), I gave up on the idea of a quick session on the Concept II, and decided to exercise my chatting muscles in the shop instead. But they were packing up and heading home too.


Ah well, the world seems to turn regardless: Whether with me or not. Mental note: Try to keep up!