The Final Countdown

With Christmas and New Year finally out of the way after a very long and stressful 4months - which, although I won't go into in any detail because I could rant for weeks, suffice to say were mainly due to crappy housemate issues and crappy job issues - now the wrong side of the festive season, the realisation has hit me with the force akin to that of a pile of bricks falling from the Eiffel Tower, that in about 8weeks time, I'm actually going.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.....

(that is of course assuming I don't get struck down by God, infected with Bird Flu or some equally horrible virulent disease, or repeat the exploits of my bf's housemate and break my ankle whilst engaging in some jovial parkour. And let's face it, I wouldn't put any of those past myself.)

Fundraising efforts are now officially done and dusted, I've still a couple of hundred to pay in but unfortunately that deceptive beast time has not allowed me to get around to doing any comical fancy dress collecting around the pubs of sheffield which was going to be my final fundraising venture. Unfortunately, we've hit upon a minor hitch in that the £96 that is currently sitting in the Just Giving account that Kate very thoughtfully set up for me in May, has not yet gone through and the deadline is fast approaching. However, I'm assured by the wise sages at Raleigh HQ that all will be well and I bloody well hope it will after the amount of money I've recently spent on equipment/insurance/flights/vaccinations and I've still got a list as long as my arm of bits and pieces I need to take, most of which have impronouncable names or look like bizarre torture devices. Or both. It's going to be an interesting few weeks...