What a story

[RED-DOG]

Even if you know the story this is worth watching.

[booder]

Cliffs ?

[tikay]

Cliffs ?

For someone from Dereham, that's not bad.

[RED-DOG]

Cliffs ?

I lolled.

[Omm]

Just wow, thanks for posting this Tom, some day I'll tell you what this has meant to me.

[RED-DOG]

Just wow, thanks for posting this Tom, some day I'll tell you what this has meant to me.

No problem, I'm just glad that someone watched it.

Curious about what you will tell me someday though.

If you liked that, have a look at this.

[Chompy]

Great flick. So ridic it didn't win the Oscar that year.

[Woodsey]

Met him, he came a did a motivational talk for our company a while back.

[bookiebasher]

Thanks Tom .

Really enjoyed that . Read a few mountain climbing books , Into thin air , No way down being the latest two.

Something about the scenery , the solitude , the changing weather that really fascinates me .

Would have loved to have climbed some smaller ones in my younger days .

Can understand how you would get the "bug" to constantly go higher or try a harder climb.

[RED-DOG]

Thanks Tom .

Really enjoyed that . Read a few mountain climbing books , Into thin air , No way down being the latest two.

Something about the scenery , the solitude , the changing weather that really fascinates me .

Would have loved to have climbed some smaller ones in my younger days .

Can understand how you would get the "bug" to constantly go higher or try a harder climb.

Yes. Strangely enough for a conservative, life nit type like me, I 'get' mountain climbing.

[bookiebasher]

Just watched the 2nd clip , compulsive viewing , for me anyway.

Tony has his trains , we have our mountains Tom 

[nirvana]

Glad I watched that. Sat with a kind of screwed up face in disbelief for most of it - extraordinary

[RED-DOG]

Glad I watched that. Sat with a kind of screwed up face in disbelief for most of it - extraordinary

I know what you mean, I couldn't stop shaking my head.

[Omm]

Just wow, thanks for posting this Tom, some day I'll tell you what this has meant to me.

I have wanted to come back to this Tom, nothing groundbreaking, however I was at a very low ebb on this particular day, had been having a tough few months with the last few weeks very difficult indeed. Had to call in sick to work on this day, kids had gone to school and wife had gone to work. With just me and the dogs being in the house everything was unusually quite, I was having one of those days were I was reflecting on the past, getting emotional, worrying about the future, generally being pathetic and feeling really sorry for myself, although this had been developing over the last few months.

Then you posted this, I wasn't going to watch it as it was nearly 2 hours long but I was intrigued by the start and seeing as you hadn't put a title of what it was about and no write up there was only one way I was going to find out.

Boy am I glad I did, it certainly made me think about how resilient we are as human beings, how physically our bodies can deal with a lot and more importantly no matter how bad things get with the right attitude our minds can deal with anything.

During the course of watching this I went from being ultra negative and fearful of the future to being positive and saying to myself "come on man, life is difficult at times but have the right attitude and drive and you can deal with anything that happens, be in control and have a plan, whatever is not going right don't give up, fight and come out stronger"

In the morning my wife went out the door leaving a man unwashed, in his PJ's with no plans to change either things. When she came home I was showered, dressed and getting ready to walk the dogs. May not sound like much but to me at that particular time it not only change my mindset but even I don't know how much it may have changed my life.

Thanks to you for posting and thanks to Blonde for

[RED-DOG]

Just wow, thanks for posting this Tom, some day I'll tell you what this has meant to me.

I have wanted to come back to this Tom, nothing groundbreaking, however I was at a very low ebb on this particular day, had been having a tough few months with the last few weeks very difficult indeed. Had to call in sick to work on this day, kids had gone to school and wife had gone to work. With just me and the dogs being in the house everything was unusually quite, I was having one of those days were I was reflecting on the past, getting emotional, worrying about the future, generally being pathetic and feeling really sorry for myself, although this had been developing over the last few months.

Then you posted this, I wasn't going to watch it as it was nearly 2 hours long but I was intrigued by the start and seeing as you hadn't put a title of what it was about and no write up there was only one way I was going to find out.

Boy am I glad I did, it certainly made me think about how resilient we are as human beings, how physically our bodies can deal with a lot and more importantly no matter how bad things get with the right attitude our minds can deal with anything.

During the course of watching this I went from being ultra negative and fearful of the future to being positive and saying to myself "come on man, life is difficult at times but have the right attitude and drive and you can deal with anything that happens, be in control and have a plan, whatever is not going right don't give up, fight and come out stronger"

In the morning my wife went out the door leaving a man unwashed, in his PJ's with no plans to change either things. When she came home I was showered, dressed and getting ready to walk the dogs. May not sound like much but to me at that particular time it not only change my mindset but even I don't know how much it may have changed my life.

Thanks to you for posting and thanks to Blonde for

Such a stirring post.

I don't know if you're a reader Omm but I read all the true survival stories I can get my hands on. It doesn't matter to me what it was that they survived, the Holocaust, lost at sea, a plane crash, a hurricane, cancer, drug addiction etc...

Mrs Red asks me how I can read about all that horror and sadness, but it's not like that at all. When the chips are down, it's amazing how some people can summon all their resilience, step up to the plate and start swinging. It's so inspiring.



I don't know if you're familiar with the poem Invictus by Ernest Henley.

In 1875 one of Henley's legs required amputation due to complications arising from tuberculosis. Immediately after the amputation he was told that his other leg would have to go as well. Henley refused and instead opted to undergo some procedures that were described as 'Too painful to endure and with no guarantee of success'.

After many months and a dozen or more operations, his remaining leg was saved.


During his time in hospital, when the pain and the prognosis were at their worst, he wrote this. I keep it in a folder on my desktop.


Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.