Time Running Out.....

Ok, so in the week I have left I have to find time for a hospital appointment, packing, a 40th birthday, seeing my family, picking up my last minute things, getting accounts into my partner's name so that she can deal with any problems here at basecamp, sorting out insurance policies, and finding time to sort out my will. All this and I have stuff to pick up from my former lodgings in Hastings, a delivery that will arrive anytime between 8 and 6 tomorrow, and the car to repaired.....So the first day off has been hectic, three hours of sleep, then charging round emptying camping containers, trying to find the nail clippers.. that sort of crucial stuff.

Just finished Steve House's book Beyond the Mountain that won this year's Boardman-Tasker prize. The internet ban at work means that I zipped through it in two shifts on two quiet nights. Aweosme read, really gripping in places, and nausea inducing when he climbs 1500 feet of vertical ice in the time it took me to walk up Scafell Pike.

There's an outbreak of cholera in Kathmandu, so I've had to rush out and pick up some iodine, not that I'll be drinking out of the taps, but there may be no option up high, and it's quicker than boiling everything, so much to do, so little time. Even though I've been planning this for two years!

Finished up all the medical background now, there's a lot to remember about all the things that can go wrong at altitude, and how to tell if it's serious or not. I'm looking forward to High Altitude Flatus Expulsion the most, forget the headaches vomiting and hallucianting - burping and farting on alternate steps is a something I can already relate to.

So, I know the team now, Pasang emailed to say we're a team of 7, plus Sherpas, from Norway, Australia, Italy and the US. A good mix, and not too much of an issue with the language. Looking forward to the team night in Kathmandu on the 13th.