A couple of months ago, my boss – Pierre, asked me to have a
look around the World Wide Web (preferably in the Cambridge locale) and find a
charitable challenge. Something that would inspire and see our staff pushing
themselves to promote a worthy cause. We do this from time to time (here's Pierre doing the ice bucket challenge). After some hours, I whittled the options down and presented Pierre
with my decision – abseiling for EACH (East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices).
For those of you that have never abseiled before, it entails
a couple of ropes (one for you to direct your rate of decent) and one for the safety
bloke (to hold onto in case your rate of decent is a little faster than you’d
envisaged). You’re strapped to within an inch of your manhood (see attached
photos) and then, you jump, literally.
Now, it’s not the waiting to jump, although that’s a little
nerve wracking, it’s not the climb to the top (elevator ride in this case) and
it’s not even the casual joking by the safety people about red dots being
cleaned off the pavement prior to your jump…it’s the leaning back over the
ledge and releasing the rope.
When I proposed this jump, I had, in fact, imagined one or
two of your brave and burly chaps on the team to take up the challenge. Short
of that, I’d hope Louise, Gail or Laurence might “man-up”…sadly this was not
the case. So, when the eyes circled the room, looking for a willing wimp, they
settled on me.
To be honest, I’ve para-glided before and I’ve parachuted
before, but the first was as a passenger and in a heavy mist, so I couldn’t see
anything until it was happening; the second was a tandem jump, as a surprise
from my wife on my 35th birthday (you can’t say no when you need to
look confident and brave in front of your Mrs), but this one was all but self-inflicted.
Disclaimer: I’m a touch terrified of heights. No, Really!
My legs shake, my arms shake, my feet wobble…
But when you think of the good it does, abseiling for a
charity, then you jump. You jump and you think, it’s worth it…and it is.
EACH are a hospice charity (Britain was recently announced as
the leader in world-wide hospice care) and it’s their job to support and
reassure families and children when they are going through one of the most
trying and fraught times of their lives. For this, they are 100% worth the
wobbly legs.
Back to the fun…and it actually is, when you get going.
You lean back, jump over the ledge to the wall, releasing a
little tension in the rope and drop. You control the rate and after you’ve
gotten into the swing of things, it’s fun to go fast.
So, I would say, I recommend abseiling and charitable work
and descending off the Guildhall in Cambridge because the view is spectacular
and if you have a few friends there, the support makes the jump that much
easier.
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