April 10th 1983

Of course, it was just our luck – the weather this morning was just perfect, so naturally we bemoaned our fate, being stuck down on the valley floor when we should have been up on the ridge enjoying the snow + the scenery.  Such is the nature of decisions – once they’re made, you’re wrong.  So we decided to go on a day walk up the Hoolier valley to the Hoolier hut.  It was a pleasant enough walk, over a couple of swing bridges + along the side of a glacier.  Not that you would know, since the ice is covered with gravel.  We all found ourselves lacking in energy, + when it seemed that the hut was further than we had thought, Andy + I decided to call off + head back.  Kirsten wanted to carry on tho’, so Val kept her company.  It gave Andy + me the chance to chat, about various things – possessions, nuclear power, life in general (or LiG) – we passed the time quite easily.

The plan had been to move on tis afternoon, but Kirsten wanted to wait an extra day, to give her the chance of meeting Jeff, her “other” man, so this we all agreed to do.  Andy + I fetched the shopping, then I put up Val’s + my tent – we had decided to move out of the hut as an economy measure.  Tho’ the logic of this did rather escape me, since we didn’t seem to be intending to pay for that one, so I wouldn’t have thought not paying for 2 nights was worse than not paying for one.  But the decision wasn’t mine.

Val + I went off to bed after we’d eaten – there really isn’t much else to do.  It was a mistake tho’ – I wasn’t tired, so didn’t sleep all that well.  And with another moonlit night, it was cold again.  Is there anything worse than lying, unsleeping, in a cold tent?  I expect so, but it’s still unpleasant.

I did appreciate the comment about decisions; nothing seems to have changed in that respect in the past 40 years or so.  And nice to have the chance to chat with Andy (hi Andy, by the way, who is still reading, I believe, but prevented from commenting, as have so many others, by the intricacies of the Recaptcha system.)  We have just the one reader of this blog who seems to have managed to negotiate their way around it, and she seems to be able to post whatever she likes.  Humph.  And it’s not Pam that I am criticising, by the way, but the system.