FIVA by Gordon Stainforth

I have just been re-reading FIVA by Gordon Stainforth.  this is from the Amazon page blurb:

Fiva: An Adventure That Went Wrong; is the epic true account from Gordon Stainforth of a near-death experience on a mountain in Norway in 1969. In the summer of 1969, as Apollo 11 was blasting off to the moon, two teenage twin, with only three years' mountaineering experience, set off to climb one of the highest rock faces in Europe. With just two bars of chocolate, some sandwiches, a four-sentence route description and an old sketch map, they left their tent early one morning with the full expectation of being back in time for tea. Within a few hours things had gone badly wrong, they were looking death in the face, and the English Home Counties seemed very far away... Short listed for the 2012 Boardman Tasker Award.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fiva-Adventure-That-Went00-Wrong/dp/09570543

Even on a second read, I could not put it down.  Years later, when the author came to write it, the experience is so fresh and so powerful in his mind that he writes in the present tense.  He takes you up that mountain with his twin.  Then - spoiler alert - when, after the horror of the climb, at last they reach the "safety" of the top, with just a walk home...

I look forward to reading it again in a year or so, if I have not fallen off the mountain of old age by then.

I searched the Captain's photo gallery and found this photo of a mountain wall in Norway from our trip in 1985. Appropriately, it is in black and white.

My gallant chauffeur escorted me to the Kingdom Hall on Thursday night, and took me for my hearing check on Friday afternoon.  All is well, in that my hearing has not deteriorated over the year, it was just that my Artificial Ears needed a clean.  Apparently I will need to do some very tricky work with replacing some tiny little discs in them every three months until my next annual check.

Aaarrrgghhh - I was clumsy enough before the days of old age and arthritis and poor eyesight overtook me. 

Anyway, all and any good health news is very welcome these days.

And its odd how many people still accept the theory of evolution when it is so obvious that for all the amazing technology and design that goes into these hearing aids - and for which I am very very grateful - the design of the original ear is far superior.  It is, after all, the work of the Grand Creator, Jehovah.