So this is life now. The memories of university are fading away and the lurking presence of the real world is hovering over me. The British summer is all it usually is, just glimpse's of sunshine followed by lashings of grey and wet. Holidays have came and went, the funds have dried up and I'm back in the familiarity of my parents home. What am I doing with my life?
The trip to Poland seems like a lifetime ago, a short family trip with the promise of some climbing in Avon Gorge has came and went, with any hopes of climbing quashed by the apparent British monsoon season. I am looking for a job, but what am I actually looking for? Ideally I want to spend as much time climbing as possible and any spare time playing guitar. But this is real life. No matter how many people say it, living off nothing and climbing all the time doesn't really work in the north of England. The crags are sporadic and the weather a depressing cycle of wet windy with the occasional glimpse of blue and gold, all the while repressing any notion of an all climbing lifestyle.
I am not good enough to spend all my time climbing, but that is the only way I'll get better. Its a paradox I'll have to overcome. I'd be lying if said I hadn't been able to get out all summer, I have had some good sessions in the moors. Mainly bouldering but I got a good session at Highcliffe Nab doing some trad with my dad. I got brutally spanked by a stiff HVS(low E1 same thing) called Scarecrow Crack a really fun overhanging offwidth, which spat my out within inches of the biggest ledge since Alex Honnold. Resulting in a substantial whipper, a slightly bemused father and a underlying frustration with my own ability.
So what am I doing. I am looking for a job, I'm trying to climb and I'm really trying to not get to frustrated at how dismal my climbing performance is or how soul destroying the weather is. I am getting on, I am getting through because whatever happens it was meant to happen. Everything works out in the end, as long as you try your best to do what you can.
So I'll climb. So I'll look for a job. This is life now.
