Yodle dodle doo!

May 8

Shopping for necessary equipment in Croydon with flatmate, who unlike me, has done hiking inlcluding places such as Nepal. Good. Get loads of useful advice. Some of it a little bit worrying. “This is a survival bag,” he says, pointing to a silvery-looking thing that looks like, well neatly folded aluminium folio. The bright orange thing that looks like a big recycling bin liner should shield me from water and make me easy to spot in case I need to be. [there should not be too many Dutch football fans around]. If I am are in danger of hypothermia – or get snow-blinded - I should go into both of these things and wait to be rescued. Hmm... do they have any pubs on smaller hills, by any chance?

***

Couldn’t even tie the shoelaces of my hiking boots properly. Damn.

May 11

On top of Zugspitze (2962m), -6C and snowing, snow depth over three meters… Hmm, it seems the summer – in the mountains at least – might be some way off.

May 14

Jogging 45 min, did some spurts, for the first time in a couple of years felt quite ok running. Maybe the fact that I have walked the stairs at work for the past couple of weeks has affected a bit. After all, the office is on the fifth floor and if you walk up there a couple of times, if nothing else, you feel like having prepared a bit for the admittedly bit higher climbs I am supposed to take.

May 16

Shopping basic first aid stuff at Boots, Piccadilly Circus. Leave with wound dressing pads, “sensible, sensitive” SilverHealing plasters and Stops Bleeding Fast – dressings for larger cuts grazes. Hopefully this should be adequate for my purposes ...

May 18

Damn, I am going today. Struggling with the packing of the rucksack a bit, and adjusting all the various straps etc with it (why was I not put in the boyscouts back in Finland in my youth in what a Londoner would call definite countryside [no, I'm not talking of the capital Helsinki which funnily enough does look and feel like a city, but Espoo next to it], why!?) Everything is pretty much set. Well, I will try to take some photos if an eagle does not mistake my digital camera for... a hamster (guess it would still be better than mistaking my head for a hedgehog I suppose)

Will be back! Hopefully after having thrown at least one snowball..