Monkey ignores his Lovebird

Lovebirds are smug creatures,
just look at the background...

According to Skip (what a suitable name for a climber), I'm at the disadvantage with rock climbing; according to Gravity (which I may name my son one day), I'm at the advantage, so it all balances out I guess.

Like most climbers, I didn't understand the concept of climbing with your feet. What I lacked in skills, I made up for with my unfound confidence in my climbing abilities my the early days of climbing.

I started with F4's and F4+'s, my footwork was blunt, placements awful, and I swing about like a monkey when I climbed. I had to call quits after 4 or 5 climbs max.

 

Just look at me in my PJs like I own the place

The 3 of us (two colleagues and myself) would take turns. One climbs, one belays, and one screams obscenities at the other two. Occasionally those on the ground would telling the one on the wall where to put their limbs as though we knew what we're talking about.

Perfect! But do it on the wall! And get some climbing shoes.

Those were good times. But I could almost sense the glares and whispers we were getting from the more seasoned climbers on the back of my head.

"Yep, let's see how many weeks this lot lasts before they find something better to do."

Turned out it was just a lovebird living in the thicket that was my hair.

If you're at that stage of your climbing journey, ignore the fucking lovebird. Oh and get a haircut, you tramp.

That's David Beckham, the lovebird's pet.

Climbing is all about fumbling up the wall for the first few weeks or months. I bet you Mozart's first visit to the piano did in no way resemble junior Tim Roth's in 1900. However talented and seemingly natural someone is at Rock Climbing, assuming that they were born with such grace is basically discrediting the hard work they've put in to get to the level they're at.

And having befriended strangers at the wall, I realise they're nothing but encournaging. So in retrospect, the voices I heard were more likely:

"Yep, get that foot up, that's it! Hope to see you in coming weeks and see you improve, brings back memories of my early days."

If you're still as excited (if not more) on your way to the gym after 4 weeks, it's time to hit up some tips from the world wide web.

Monkey will continue Next Time.

The Cola Bear returns and explains everything.