Reflections

Not in the Blip. It's the harbour wall at lunchtime.

Don't let the blue sky & sun fool you. A very brisk southeast wind was making it very cold indeed. Has to be cold for me to admit that.

The reflections are about this day a year ago. At just this moment the 6 of us (plus 6 guides) were about to leave base camp at 15,000 ft to climb through the night to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro. Well over 19,000 ft.

A novel experience for me. Tough. Gruelling. I didn't know what exhaustion was until that night. Exhausted from having no sleep all night. Exhausted from having trekked uphill all night with sweet f*** all oxygen. Exhausted from 5 days of trekking at altitude.

Cold. Colder than Vilnius or rural New York in mid-winter. -15c, I remember - plus windchill.

Hungry, but nauseous from the altitude. Thirsty, but not wanting to drink because that meant a break from trying to breath.

Oh well. We all got up. We all got down. None of us will ever be the same again.