Oscar, Jae and I recently went to a talk/slide show, given by a gorgeous big bear of a man from Exodus, who has the unusual name of Apples. He is one of their experts on Kilimanjaro: he seems to have been up and down the mountain about as many times as I have been to the cinema! In fact, he told us that once he had led a group up Kilimanjaro and when he came down, he discovered that the guy who was supposed to lead the next group up had been taken ill. So he simply turned round and went up again, leading that group!
Apples told us a bit about what happens. Apparently every morning, we will be woken by a porter knocking on our tent door (?) saying “Wakey, wakey” with a cup of “bed tea” in his/her hand. Just as well there will be someone else to take over Stew’s usual job of bringing me tea in bed! Twenty minutes later, the porter will reappear with a bowl of warm water, saying “Washy, washy”. It seems like the day continues like that: there will even be someone there to remind me to wash my hands when I appear out of the toilet tent.
In a sense, it is almost like returning to childhood: someone else is in charge, and I will only have to do as I am told. I could just live in the moment as children do, not having to think about what comes next, until I am told to do so.
That’s a bit different from what my working life has been. As a legal aid solicitor, my time was divided into six minute units: I had to do “time recording”, accounting for what work I was doing for whom, during each unit of time. I have always had to keep my eye on the clock and lead a very structured working life. I pretty much always know the time, day or night, within a few minutes. Could I hand over to others for the duration of the trip? Leave my watch behind (my phone definitely isn’t coming due to lack of charging facilities up Kili) and just live in the moment? No thinking about how long I have been walking or have still to walk – just drift along putting one foot in front of the other, eating when told, sleeping when told, waking when told and washing when told! It could be an even more amazing experience if I can manage it!
PS From Jae: Check out free talks with Apples and other Exodus experts here:
http://newsroom.exodus.co.uk/events