Archive for posts on Trailwalker 2009

2009/2010 Thursday, December 31st, 2009

2009 has been a strange and brilliant year for me. It started with an ending, when Katie broke up our four-year relationship. It was devastating, yet entirely the right thing to do, and, as it turned out, 2009 was the best year of my life (so far). I’ve visited the US, Holland, Scotland, Spain and Denmark; I’ve walked from Petersfield to Brighton. And in between each of these I’ve been in this beautiful city of mine, Oxford. I’ve befriended people from six of seven continents. I’ve discovered a hundred things about myself - my sexuality, my dreams, my fears. I’ve had my mind read and my pulse stopped and drunk the best cup of tea I’ve ever had (all in the space of an hour). I’ve chased thieves down the alleyways of Barcelona and danced at Parliament Square. People keep telling me I’ve been on BBC News as well as Have I Got News For You.

I had two resolutions in 2009 - the first of my life. One was to go permanently vegetarian. This I succeeded in. The other was to write Katie a letter every week. It would have been strange to have succeeded at that one.

I have lots of resolutions for 2010. My friends tell me they’re all cliches, but they’re sincere. Most of them are just things I’ve been meaning to do and the opportunity to do them seems to have arisen at the end of this year, but I am resolved to do them nonetheless:

Go vegan
I’ve been steering myself towards veganism since July and, despite a massive lapse in December (due to trips to Copenhagen and my parents’ - shh don’t judge me), I hit veganism at the beginning of November. In 2010, though, it’s going to become permanent, and I’m going to throw myself into learning to cook well.

Read
Ever since I got hold of The Wire I’ve stopped reading in bed, which means that - apart from policy papers and invoices - I’ve stopped reading altogether; and I miss it. I made a point of finishing The Wire before Copenhagen so that, when I returned, I could get back to the habit of burying myself in a book before snuggling down for the night.

Get creative
I used to take photographs and record music and write stories and I don’t any more. So let’s have some more of that again.

Learn Spanish
You know, it’s the second most spoken language in the world. And it’ll set me up nicely for COP16 in Mexico (estoy bromeando).

Run a/two marathon/s
Not really a resolution as I committed to it months ago, but running both the Paris and Berlin marathons is my Big Challenge for 2010.

Find someone to cuddle
2009 was the first year of my adult life that i was single and it was immensely good for me in ways I wouldn’t have predicted. But now I’m ready to find someone to cuddle again.

No flying
I took 10 flights in 2009 - 9 of them after beginning my job in the Climate Change Campaign team… So this year I’m taking none.

Keep campaigning
I’ve made so many friends and found so much meaning in campaigning this year, and I can only see that passion and energy growing in 2010. I’d like to start physically campaigning on more than just climate change.

It’s going to be an exciting year…

Here’s a meme about 2009, for those who are interested.

Posted in Art and photographs, Books, Climate change, Oxfam, Oxford, Paris Marathon 2010, Personal, Politics, Trailwalker 2009, Travel, USA • No comments

Paris Marathon 2010, my lovely job, Edinburgh festival and Trailwalker 2009 Sunday, August 16th, 2009

Paris Marathon 2010

Today I started training for the Paris Marathon. I ran to Oxfam House to find out how long it would take, as the plan is to run to work every day from now on (this gives me an excuse to use the amazing Oxfam showers, mmm). It took 45 minutes to run about 4 miles - by which I mean run about half a mile and stagger the rest of the way. I have never Run with a capital R before (although I did once chase somebody so fast that they threw up) - and I’m going to relish the challenge.

Charlie invited me to join the little delegation heading to Paris in April, and, needing my epic-event-fix post-Trailwalker, I couldn’t say no (Charlie is, generally, difficult to say no to; I’m not even sure if he was serious but I’ve said I’m doing it now, so I’m doing it). Scott is going to join me (with whom running will, I think, be another challenge in itself), and you’re welcome to come as well.

*

My lovely job


An ordinary day in the office

I still haven’t said anything much about my lovely new job, which isn’t really a new job any more as I’ve been doing it since June, but it is lovely. I’m in the Climate Change Campaign Team, whose remit, very broadly, is to make as much noise as possible about climate change to ensure that world leaders commit to a fair and safe deal at Copenhagen in December. I love my job. I’m working with funky people on a really exciting, massively important issue. I’ve never worked so hard (or woken up with work on the brain so often) but it doesn’t matter because I genuinely enjoy every second of it, like a big work-loving weirdo. When I sought out Oxfam for a job back in 2007, I did it because I was tired of supporting businesses whose sole purpose was to make rich people richer, and I wanted to spend my weekdays doing something I really believed in. Of course, I’ve been working for Oxfam for two years now but it’s only since June that I’ve been (or at least I feel like I am) right in the centre of the brilliant work Oxfam is doing.

Look at that, I’ve managed to wax lyrical about my job without even mentioning that I get to shoot off to Copenhagen and Barcelona at the end of the year.

*

The Edinburgh festival


The African Children’s Choir, obviously

I’m just back from Edinburgh, where big brother Ed, big-sister-in-law Cat and I spent a splendid week seeing shows, spotting sights and slurping shakes. Highlights of the week were Mark Watson, who I’d always previously thought was funny in a nice sort of way but who on Wednesday was hilarious; comedian Patch Hyde, who put on a show for 17 people in the Fudge Kitchen on the Royal Mile and, if he decides to give up the fudge-based day job, I think will become a comedy star in no time; and the singing, dancing, drumming, beaming African Children’s Choir, who inspired me to sponsor a child.

*

Trailwalker 2009

Trailwalker sits at the bottom of this entry because it’s now officially Old News (see also Item 1), and if you’re not sick of hearing from me about it: congratulations! You made it to the very end. As did we, although for a while it looked like we wouldn’t (at Checkpoint 9 - 88km in - two of my teammates were asleep, I was uncharacteristically angry at myself for trying to prove something utterly arbitrary and my other teammate had a hairline knee fracture. But stopping 88km in is, well, stopping 12km out, and you don’t do that). Do enjoy my entertaining but information-free video and let’s let that be the end of it (but do feel free to pester me incessantly for sponsorship when you have a go yourself next year).

*

Coming up in 2009…

The rest of this year is going to disappear in no time - which is a shame because it looks like it’s going to be great fun. I have trips planned to Barcelona, Las Vegas and Copenhagen (twice) - the latter of which is to influence the outcome of “the most important gathering since the Second World War”. There might be another house move coming up, and if it works out it’ll be one that facilitates house parties. Hopefully I can see my American pals, albeit briefly, in September or October while I’m that side of the Atlantic. I have my piano and my glockenspiel back, and Rory and I are going to hook up and get recording.

There’s only one thing missing…

Posted in Climate change, Oxfam, Paris Marathon 2010, Personal, Trailwalker 2009 • No comments

Walking, working, coursework and Art Week Sunday, May 24th, 2009

Today was a stunning day without a cloud in the sky from dawn to dusk, so Dan and I walked just shy of 24 miles to Brill, in the process getting very tired and very burned (luckily for the sake of comparison, it’s just down one side. Great). It’s the most either of us has ever walked and it’s a daunting vision of what we’ve let ourselves in for in July, but I also know that reaching the finish line of a 62-mile walk is going to be an elating experience.

(I have no excuse for getting burned; this week I discovered that you can add the weather forecast to Google Calendar. Sorry for geeking out, but this made me happy.)

Last week was Oxfam Art Week in Oxfam House. To coincide with Oxford Art Weeks, a few of us decided to create an exhibition of Oxfam staff’s art in the atrium at the offices. Usually the atrium is taken up with displays by Oxfam teams on current projects, and from the feedback it seems that people really enjoyed a) having something a little different going on and b) the artwork itself. I had great fun designing a poster and a booklet and, based on the experience and people’s reactions, I’m sure we’ll do another Oxfam Art Week again soon.

My current job was due to come to an end in the next few weeks; luckily I’ve been offered another one! The new job will last 9 months (I would have loved to have got a permanent position but I believe those are appearing less and less as we continue to be uncertain about our future income) and involve working on Oxfam’s climate change campaign. Campaigns is very much the cool department in Oxfam, and climate change is where it’s all Happening right now, so I’m very excited (although also a little nervous, particularly since people in the team keep telling me I’m going to be “very busy”).

Now I must away to compare and contrast the market liberal and critical political economy approaches to audience research (in 1,500 words). I must admit that I’d be much happier if the Open University classed media as an arts subject rather than a social science, since, where media is concerned, I’m much more interested in the artistic decisions than the socio-political ones. Still fascinating, though, and I just hope I continue to find time to study.

Posted in Oxfam, Personal, Science and technology, Trailwalker 2009 • 1 comment

At least 410 characters about Trailwalker 2009 Sunday, May 10th, 2009

My microblogging has kind of taken over from my blogging recently. In fact, now that my blog automatically updates my Twitter account, probably most people will find out that I’ve blogged because I’ve microblogged about having blogged.

The upshot of all this microblogging is that occasionally I’ll say something in 140 characters that it might be wiser to say in, say, 410, and it seems appropriate that to an undertaking as lengthy as Trailwalker I devote a slightly lengthier spiel.

The 140 character bit:
This July, I and my friends will be walking 100km (62 miles) in under 30 hours in aid of Oxfam and the Gurkha Welfare Trust.

The lengthier bit: what we’ve been up to so far.
Our team consists of three ‘Fammers - Julia, Dan and Kinders - and somebody Julia met on Facebook when we were desperately hunting for a fourth person dedicated or peculiar enough to take on the challenge: Sarah. We’ve named our team Nightcrawlers on the basis that

  1. we wanted a name that was epic and sinister, and
  2. by nightfall we’ll probably be lucky if we are crawling.

We haven’t had a single team practice yet. In fact, I’m the only Nightcrawler to have met all three team members. Last weekend Sarah and I, along with her other half and my big sister, went on a 16-mile walk. We started at the end of the trail and made our way to the beginning - realising quickly that the reason the beginning is at the beginning and the end is at the end is that, otherwise, the entire walk is uphill. However, we’ve all been practicing away - alone or in groups of two or three, on trails, in gyms, on saddles and in pools - and I think we’re all feeling confident about the big day. That 16 mile uphill walk took us 5.5 hours (including 30 minutes in a tearoom for a discussion on the pronunciation of “scone”) - which means that even if we relax our pace we may be able to finish the event in under 25 hours. And we can save time by talking about scones on the way.

Sarah’s partner Neil works on the Trailwalker project team - so he knows the route and is full of handy advice. This, coupled with the other three of us working in Oxfam House, where we’re a few steps away from the Trailwalker team and can go and pester them at our leisure, gives us quite an advantage.

My housemate Craig and two other friends from Oxfam, MC and Jenny, will be Trailwalking too. We keep talking about a joint team practice but, so far, it hasn’t happened. We also keep talking about competition, sabotage and betrayal, so maybe it’s for the best that we keep our distance. A fortnight ago they held a cake sale and tried to persuade me to sample a chocolate behemoth that HR nicknamed “The Monster“, but I wasn’t fooled: I noticed they didn’t eat any themselves.


My groovy socks (and hairy legs)

Finally, a word of advice for other Trailwalkers: buy socks. Expensive socks. Lots of them. Last weekend I spent £10 on a pair of walking socks, and I’m not sure if my feet weren’t actually in a better condition at the end of the walk than when we began. I’ve ordered another three pairs (as I’m reliably informed that changing your socks is just about the most important way to look after yourself during Trailwalker).

So now you’re caught up on the adventures of the Nightcrawlers so far. I promise to be better at blogging our progress to avoid another monumental infodump like this one - and of course I’ll continue to microblog updates too. You can also stay informed using RSS or subscribe to an email update. And finally - there was nowhere else this post could possibly lead - if you haven’t already, please throw a few pounds our way. (Take a look at my Trailwalker page to see what Oxfam might do with £1,000.)

Posted in Science and technology, Trailwalker 2009 • 1 comment