Last evening I went ‘paragliding‘. Some new friends of ours (Steve and Trudy) have a motorised paraglider and also a tandem non motorised paraglider. They run a business taking aerial photographs of peoples’ houses from the air. They flew over and photographed our new house some time back and I had said to them that if the opportunity arose I would like to do a paraglide with them. Well they phoned me on Wednesday afternoon to say that from the weather patterns and weather forecast up in the mountains, it looked as if conditions would be favourable tomorrow (Thursday) and was I still up for it? Was I ever. We phoned them in the afternoon (Thursday) to see if all was still OK and then at about half past four we set off to meet them. They then took us, in their 4x4, off up into the mountains on a very rough track. The launch site turned out to be a little area of cleared scrub land about half the size of a tennis court. The launch site has a gentle slope and then at the lower edge of this gentle slope is a 300 metre vertical drop over the cliff face. Standing at the cliff edge I did consider if perhaps I should have worn brown trousers. It was awesome and so was the view. The temperature was in the mid to high twenties with a gently gusting breeze.
We unpacked all of the bags and equipment and carried it from the track to the launch site and then Steve and Trudy laid out a large piece of olive picking netting on the upper side of the site. This was so that the canopy (vernacular for a very small looking handkerchief) and ropes would not snag on the rough ground at launch time. This done they then turned their attention to an unusually quiet me. Elayne busied herself taking pictures of ‘the last sight of Paul’ just to show the insurance people if she needed to make a claim. Firstly I was squeezed into a very flashy ’jump suite’ with zips and pockets all over the place. It fit rather well I thought but it was also very hot inside it. Then a crash helmet, which made me start to twitch because I didn’t think that we wanted to crash. Then I was adorned with a very flashy pair of velcro fastening knee pads (I presume in case I wanted to say my prayers before we jumped off the cliff), and lastly I had to put on a very strong pair of gloves that has steel palm protectors. Thus trussed, and very hot and not just a little nervous, I then watched as Steve kitted up and started to check the equipment again. He stopped all of a sudden and I thought that perhaps he was going to cancel the flight, but no he had only forgotten his crash helmet. Trudy kindly volunteered to drive all the way back down the mountain to their house and recover Steve’s crash helmet. In the mean time I took off some of the protective, hot garb and tried not to think of the lovely pint of beer awaiting us if we should ever land on the floor of the valley in one piece.
Twenty minutes later Trudy arrived back and we started kitting up once more. Steve then gave me very clear and unambiguous instructions about what I was required to do and what I was to expect to happen at launch time.
Steve emphasized that he was the boss and his instructions, if not followed, could put both of our lives at risk. I can assure you that arguing with him over anything at that point in time was not a very good option for me.
Steve then unfolded the canopy whilst I inwardly trembled and cursed my independent character streak that made me open my big mouth in the first place. He then attached himself to the canopy and called me over to do like wise. I did notice whilst I was on my ‘last walk’ how my brain said it was not too late to pull out, but my legs kept on walking. In addition the wind sock indicator, which until that moment, had been either straight out or at the very least had been at a jaunty angle, had given up the ghost altogether and only just managed a small limpid stir. But no one said ’sorry we can’t go’. I arrived at Steve’s side and whilst he was irrevocably attaching me to the handkerchief, which actually did look quite large now, it occurred to me that ages ago whilst he was giving me my instruction he had casually mentioned that I would be facing and looking over the cliff edge whilst he would be facing back wards. I could only now assume that he didn’t like heights and was leaving me to guide him off the cliff edge ( I joke if any of Steve’s potential customers are reading this blog). With a whoosh and a lot of noise we are stumbling, together, backward away from the cliff edge, Steve shouts ’run’. Well excuse me, I know that I promised not to argue with the captain, but I thought that we were supposed to run forward and glide gently off the edge of the cliff in graceful harmony like I have seen on the telly. In actual fact we did a few back steps and then a couple of front steps like a couple of beetles dancing and all of a sudden we were flying right out over the edge of the cliff. I thought that Steve had stayed behind because I couldn’t see him but as we took the first turn I felt the re-assuring nudge of his legs on my back and then he told me to lean over into the turn a bit like you do on a bike only this time there is five hundred meters of clear air below us. At this stage I decided that if I was going to arrive back on terra firma I had better start to breathe again. I was then able to marvelled at the fantastic, wonderful vista before us. Needless to say my camera came out of the overall pocket and we gained height and swung round back towards the launch site just near enough to wave to Trudy and Elayne (so that she could put the insurance policy away just for now).
We twisted and turned over the valley in a magnificent manner and all too soon Steve said that I was to put the camera away. Just after take off I had been able to sit down in the harness and Steve now told me to push myself forward out of the sitting position and into the stand up position. It’s very odd being all the way up there and being asked to stand up. We gently came down into the rambla and just about ten foot off the ground, and travelling at some little speed, the wind died altogether and we hit the ground in a rather undignified heap, me in the dust and Steve on top of me.
We recovered our dignity and I can remember being very grateful for the knee pads, the helmet, the overalls and the palm protectors. When we had both recovered our breath we stepped out of our equipment and I congratulated Steve on my safe deliverance. By the time we had straightened out the canopy and packed it away, Trudy and Elayne had meanwhile cleared the launch site equipment and then driven down the mountain to meet us.
Needless to say we repaired to the local hostelry for a well deserved pint. We sat on the veranda in the warm clear evening air and my goodness did that drink taste good.
Afterwards on the drive home Elayne asked me if I would do it again. The answer was very simple to formulate, YES PLEASE.
What about the builders? O! I’ll tell you about them tomorrow.
Saturday 12-5-2007
After the adventures of the last day or so we thought that we wanted a quiet un-eventful weekend. As we were driving back up from shopping in Albox this morning we thought that we had run over something that kicked up under the wheel arches. A soft sort of noise, not like a brick. Anyway we drove on because nothing was obvious. As we left Taberno, about 2k out, we noticed that the air conditioning was not doing it’s job and then we noticed all sorts of dashboard warning lights come on. We pulled in and could hear the radiator boiling it’s socks off, so decided to leave the bonnet up and wait for half an hour to see what happened. As I was looking at the engine I noticed that the water pump/fan belt was missing and some of the shredded remains were visible down in the engine compartment. So now we knew what the noise was. All that we had to do now was to call the Insurance assistance ‘hot line’ and ask for help. We had been assured that someone at the end of the phone would be able to speak English. Well the lady who answered could nearly speak a little English. I thought that eventually I had managed to describe where we were. She said that someone would be with us in half an hour. In the mean time Elayne phoned Mags and Allen to warn them that we might have a problem coming to their house for supper tonight. After explaining the situation to Allen he said that over here the breakdown truck drivers are only that, they would not do any ‘on the road side’ repairs, they take the car to your designated garage.
Whilst we waited the recovery trucks arrival a young guy drove past and stopped to see if we needed any help, just as the none very English speaking recovery truck driver phoned to ask where we were. The young lad (Robustiano) not only told the driver to drive to Taberno but then insisted on going down to Taberno to guide the driver back to us. They then drove in convoy back to us and Robustiano stayed to help interpret what the options were. Initially Robustiano said that he would be happy to drive Elayne back to the caravan, to let the cats out of the caravan as it was very hot outside, so probably would be much hotter inside, but then after further discussion and bearing in mind that it was nearly quarter past one on a Saturday (every thing closes for the weekend at two o‘clock on Saturdays), it was decided to send the car down to Albox for the weekend on the back of the recovery vehicle, and Robustiano would bring both of us back to the caravan. What a superstar Robustiano turned out to be, and making an enormous effort to help total strangers out like that is brilliant. He wouldn’t accept anything for the favour but said that if we saw him in Lentisco’s one night we could buy him a drink.
So here we are back at the caravan sin (without) vehicle and dear Mags and Allen are going to collect us this evening and we are all going down to Albox for a Chinese meal.
O! and the house, well, because we cannot get on line at all today I’ll do an update tomorrow, promise, although we do not have anybody on site at all.
Sunday 13-5-2007
Some days are wall to wall excitement and others are not. Today is not. We have no builders or carpenters, no car, no internet access but we did have a lovely talk to my sister on the phone this morning. We are just passing the day reading and generally being quite lazy after doing a few chores this morning.
We got up late (or at least I did) after a fabulous evening with Mags and Allen at the Chinese Restaurant known as The Wok in Albox. We ate till we were busting and had several drinks all for €15 each. Mags and Allen dropped us off at home at about half past eleven. It’s hard to believe but I am just starting to feel a bit peckish again.
Tomorrow we have to try to sort out the repair of the car and hope that it doesn’t take too long.
Back to the book.
We unpacked all of the bags and equipment and carried it from the track to the launch site and then Steve and Trudy laid out a large piece of olive picking netting on the upper side of the site. This was so that the canopy (vernacular for a very small looking handkerchief) and ropes would not snag on the rough ground at launch time. This done they then turned their attention to an unusually quiet me. Elayne busied herself taking pictures of ‘the last sight of Paul’ just to show the insurance people if she needed to make a claim. Firstly I was squeezed into a very flashy ’jump suite’ with zips and pockets all over the place. It fit rather well I thought but it was also very hot inside it. Then a crash helmet, which made me start to twitch because I didn’t think that we wanted to crash. Then I was adorned with a very flashy pair of velcro fastening knee pads (I presume in case I wanted to say my prayers before we jumped off the cliff), and lastly I had to put on a very strong pair of gloves that has steel palm protectors. Thus trussed, and very hot and not just a little nervous, I then watched as Steve kitted up and started to check the equipment again. He stopped all of a sudden and I thought that perhaps he was going to cancel the flight, but no he had only forgotten his crash helmet. Trudy kindly volunteered to drive all the way back down the mountain to their house and recover Steve’s crash helmet. In the mean time I took off some of the protective, hot garb and tried not to think of the lovely pint of beer awaiting us if we should ever land on the floor of the valley in one piece.
Twenty minutes later Trudy arrived back and we started kitting up once more. Steve then gave me very clear and unambiguous instructions about what I was required to do and what I was to expect to happen at launch time.
Steve emphasized that he was the boss and his instructions, if not followed, could put both of our lives at risk. I can assure you that arguing with him over anything at that point in time was not a very good option for me.
Steve then unfolded the canopy whilst I inwardly trembled and cursed my independent character streak that made me open my big mouth in the first place. He then attached himself to the canopy and called me over to do like wise. I did notice whilst I was on my ‘last walk’ how my brain said it was not too late to pull out, but my legs kept on walking. In addition the wind sock indicator, which until that moment, had been either straight out or at the very least had been at a jaunty angle, had given up the ghost altogether and only just managed a small limpid stir. But no one said ’sorry we can’t go’. I arrived at Steve’s side and whilst he was irrevocably attaching me to the handkerchief, which actually did look quite large now, it occurred to me that ages ago whilst he was giving me my instruction he had casually mentioned that I would be facing and looking over the cliff edge whilst he would be facing back wards. I could only now assume that he didn’t like heights and was leaving me to guide him off the cliff edge ( I joke if any of Steve’s potential customers are reading this blog). With a whoosh and a lot of noise we are stumbling, together, backward away from the cliff edge, Steve shouts ’run’. Well excuse me, I know that I promised not to argue with the captain, but I thought that we were supposed to run forward and glide gently off the edge of the cliff in graceful harmony like I have seen on the telly. In actual fact we did a few back steps and then a couple of front steps like a couple of beetles dancing and all of a sudden we were flying right out over the edge of the cliff. I thought that Steve had stayed behind because I couldn’t see him but as we took the first turn I felt the re-assuring nudge of his legs on my back and then he told me to lean over into the turn a bit like you do on a bike only this time there is five hundred meters of clear air below us. At this stage I decided that if I was going to arrive back on terra firma I had better start to breathe again. I was then able to marvelled at the fantastic, wonderful vista before us. Needless to say my camera came out of the overall pocket and we gained height and swung round back towards the launch site just near enough to wave to Trudy and Elayne (so that she could put the insurance policy away just for now).
We twisted and turned over the valley in a magnificent manner and all too soon Steve said that I was to put the camera away. Just after take off I had been able to sit down in the harness and Steve now told me to push myself forward out of the sitting position and into the stand up position. It’s very odd being all the way up there and being asked to stand up. We gently came down into the rambla and just about ten foot off the ground, and travelling at some little speed, the wind died altogether and we hit the ground in a rather undignified heap, me in the dust and Steve on top of me.
We recovered our dignity and I can remember being very grateful for the knee pads, the helmet, the overalls and the palm protectors. When we had both recovered our breath we stepped out of our equipment and I congratulated Steve on my safe deliverance. By the time we had straightened out the canopy and packed it away, Trudy and Elayne had meanwhile cleared the launch site equipment and then driven down the mountain to meet us.
Needless to say we repaired to the local hostelry for a well deserved pint. We sat on the veranda in the warm clear evening air and my goodness did that drink taste good.
Afterwards on the drive home Elayne asked me if I would do it again. The answer was very simple to formulate, YES PLEASE.
What about the builders? O! I’ll tell you about them tomorrow.
Saturday 12-5-2007
After the adventures of the last day or so we thought that we wanted a quiet un-eventful weekend. As we were driving back up from shopping in Albox this morning we thought that we had run over something that kicked up under the wheel arches. A soft sort of noise, not like a brick. Anyway we drove on because nothing was obvious. As we left Taberno, about 2k out, we noticed that the air conditioning was not doing it’s job and then we noticed all sorts of dashboard warning lights come on. We pulled in and could hear the radiator boiling it’s socks off, so decided to leave the bonnet up and wait for half an hour to see what happened. As I was looking at the engine I noticed that the water pump/fan belt was missing and some of the shredded remains were visible down in the engine compartment. So now we knew what the noise was. All that we had to do now was to call the Insurance assistance ‘hot line’ and ask for help. We had been assured that someone at the end of the phone would be able to speak English. Well the lady who answered could nearly speak a little English. I thought that eventually I had managed to describe where we were. She said that someone would be with us in half an hour. In the mean time Elayne phoned Mags and Allen to warn them that we might have a problem coming to their house for supper tonight. After explaining the situation to Allen he said that over here the breakdown truck drivers are only that, they would not do any ‘on the road side’ repairs, they take the car to your designated garage.
Whilst we waited the recovery trucks arrival a young guy drove past and stopped to see if we needed any help, just as the none very English speaking recovery truck driver phoned to ask where we were. The young lad (Robustiano) not only told the driver to drive to Taberno but then insisted on going down to Taberno to guide the driver back to us. They then drove in convoy back to us and Robustiano stayed to help interpret what the options were. Initially Robustiano said that he would be happy to drive Elayne back to the caravan, to let the cats out of the caravan as it was very hot outside, so probably would be much hotter inside, but then after further discussion and bearing in mind that it was nearly quarter past one on a Saturday (every thing closes for the weekend at two o‘clock on Saturdays), it was decided to send the car down to Albox for the weekend on the back of the recovery vehicle, and Robustiano would bring both of us back to the caravan. What a superstar Robustiano turned out to be, and making an enormous effort to help total strangers out like that is brilliant. He wouldn’t accept anything for the favour but said that if we saw him in Lentisco’s one night we could buy him a drink.
So here we are back at the caravan sin (without) vehicle and dear Mags and Allen are going to collect us this evening and we are all going down to Albox for a Chinese meal.
O! and the house, well, because we cannot get on line at all today I’ll do an update tomorrow, promise, although we do not have anybody on site at all.
Sunday 13-5-2007
Some days are wall to wall excitement and others are not. Today is not. We have no builders or carpenters, no car, no internet access but we did have a lovely talk to my sister on the phone this morning. We are just passing the day reading and generally being quite lazy after doing a few chores this morning.
We got up late (or at least I did) after a fabulous evening with Mags and Allen at the Chinese Restaurant known as The Wok in Albox. We ate till we were busting and had several drinks all for €15 each. Mags and Allen dropped us off at home at about half past eleven. It’s hard to believe but I am just starting to feel a bit peckish again.
Tomorrow we have to try to sort out the repair of the car and hope that it doesn’t take too long.
Back to the book.
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