When I first heard that Sheila, Jae and Oscar were planning a climb up Kilimanjaro, I was not a bit surprised. I have known Sheila for nearly forty years, thirty-six of them living next door. I have heard many a story and even been a part of some, but nothing as mad as planning the 3G climb!
Sheila is one of the best people to have as a friend and a wonder when you are trying to cope with family traumas.
On a lighter side of things, I have been lucky enough to have been included on many girly holidays. Well, you might think that a girly holiday would be sitting in the shade with a long drink. A long drink did often play a part in things, but not until a bit of adventure had been achieved, with Sheila being one of the ring leaders.
But I have to take Sheila’s memory to task. In one of the earlier blogs, it was written that she has never done a mountain climb, but the truth is that two years running we had our girly holiday in Morocco and on both of those trips, we spent a day climbing and walking the High Atlas Mountains. I know that this by no means compares with the planned 3G climb, but at times the terrain was challenging. On the way to the mountains, we were very amused by the sight of goats climbing trees to get at the argan nuts that were growing there. We suspected that at various coach stops the locals cashed in on the spectacle by placing the goats in the trees.
One of the funniest thing that I ever saw was on one of these trips: I think it was the first time that we walked on the mountain. Our group was dressed in walking boots with back packs etc. (When going on holiday with Sheila, we all know to take everything from beach wear to walking boots). There was a couple: I think that they were from Italy. The lady was wearing a very colourful designer tracksuit weighed down with gold and wearing make up that stayed in place all day. The husband was carrying a wicker and gingham bag. After a very taxing climb we came to a stop for lunch. The said wicker bag was then placed on the ground, and by some amazing feat of manipulation, the bag became a basket for the tiny designer dog that it contained. Until then, the rest of the group had no idea that there was a dog along with us on the trip. We were served a very pleasant lunch of local flat bread and a paste made from the argan nuts, washed down with some delicious mint tea.
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I love your story Liz – it is one of the girls’ hols I wasn’t on, but it sounds like it was full of all the usual nuttiness! Remember we went back to the same hotel the next year? Here’s a photo of the 3GKiliClimbers and Gwen that time. Jx
