I dont agree with the grades!

The new boulder set is in, and I am apparently much stronger than ever before. 

I struggle to find this true since I havent really been training on boulders for a good while now.

For what it's worth, my personal grades:

1. *Green 6b+ (6B)
2. *Red 6c (7A)
3. Grey 7a, tough but good. (7A)
4. Blue 7a, could make a nice 6b+ if you stick a foot hold on the big move, it is literally the only hard bit (6C)
5. Red and White 6c/+, the egyptian is good beta. I actually like the last move. (7A)
6. *White 6c, Sweet problem! (6C)
7. Red, Didnt try, but looks brutal. 8B+? (7C+)
8. *Grey 6c/+ (7A)
9. *Blue 6B+ first two moves are rough. Rest is easy. (6C)

* flashed, Grades on Board

Anyways:

I now only have two boulders to do for the rest of the month, the green 7B and the red 8B+

And the red is obscene, like crazy obscene.

I cant do 6 of the moves on it, and the 4 that I can do are pretty tough to begin with...you have to do them to move into the crux...

Id quite like to head in tomorrow to get on the 8a again, but I'm not sure I will be able to find myself a belayer. The regular crew are heading over to Spain on monday so none of them will be climbing tomorrow. 

Selfish.

In other news, I made this image of Alissa's face stuck on a llama's body a while back, 

So for christmas she kindly made some Tshirts for us all to wear...

I was talking with Carly earlier this week, and I remembered an event in Thailand that I had completely forgotten about from my previous reports. In the absence of any interesting news, here it is:

__________________________________________________________ 

I was bored senseless from 3 weeks of sitting around, and the internet in the room wasn't working for the bazillionth time on the trip. In an effort to provide some 'excitement' to my life, I decided to go to the local 'Australian' themed sports bar and pillage their WiFi for a while.

Upon arriving, I ordered my Chang beer, and settled in to watch some Cricket. I can't remember who was playing. It might have been England vs India? Who knows. Anyways. I'm sat there with my Chang, minding my own business in the busy bar, when two people come up and ask to sit on the opposite side of the table. I dont really care - head in phone, trying to find some beta on the climbing area I wanted to have a look at the next day - I nod them to sit down and carry on looking at my phone.

After a minute of them talking about their food, I cant help but look up and recommend the incredible roast dinner deal they were about to miss out on, not to mention the huge jug of beer that came with it.

They thank me, introduce themselves and we start having a conversation.

It's amazing what being unbelievably bored can do for my sociability. 

Turns out they were a couple from Manchester, who were taking advantage of their summer holiday to travel round Thailand for a few weeks. Nothing particularly special. They ask me about my trip, and I explain that I have been sitting on the same island for about 3 weeks so far and could do with some interest.

The woman practically jumps up, her boyfriend looks at her with surprise, and then a look of dawning realisation crossed his face and he just looks away. 

"WE HAVE A CAT THAT POOS IN A TOILET"

right...  

"why does it do that?" I ask, somewhat bemused by the crazed woman I had chanced upon.

"IT HAS AIDS"

oh.

I am unsure how to respond to this comment.

Is this a sad thing?

I dont know. She appears to be well over it, indeed she was practically screaming it at me with wild excitement spread over her face. I think I probably should have been a little afraid. 

Instead I asked for proof. I mean, I'm not going to take this sort of claim at face value. 

Not remotely abashed, she whips out her phone, loads up the video that she was carrying around with her, and hands it to me.

Yup.

That was a cat shitting in a toilet.

Apparently this is a bit of a thing that people do?