Harder than it looks
Same church as yesterday, but a whole lot higher and harder than it looks. It costs a pound to go up the church tower, and I got three steps up and chickened last time. This time I was determined.
The staircase is stone and just barely wide enough for one person. They have men with walkie-talkies stationed at both ends so two people don’t get into the tower at once. The risers are steep and the stairs are wide enough for less than half of my big clown foot. There’s a big-ass rope and you pull yourself up that sucker all the way to the top.
Truth is, it’s so narrow, I don’t think you could possible fall far. But it’s scary as shit.
I had a terrible fear I’d get up there and be unable to come down (I have a history of this, ever since I got myself up that fire observation tower in 1967 and got stuck), but for once it was easier down than up.
Maybe next year I’ll hang around and get more pictures.
Posted: September 8th, 2015 under britain, personal.
Comments: 12
Comments
Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: September 8, 2015, 11:36 pm
” Truth is, it’s so narrow, I don’t think you could possible fall far. ”
The image this brought to mind was of you being bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated by the narrow stair passage while falling down, resulting in something vaguely meaty – perhaps reminiscent of an anatomy class exercise gone awry? – and somehow hinting at non-euclidean angles and planes.
Please don’t fall down, Stoaty! I fear the worst!
Comment from drew458
Time: September 9, 2015, 1:27 am
I share your fear. We visited a little church in Long Island Bahamas and climbed the towers. They are only 4 stories tall, but tight inside and tighter with each level. At the top the passageway is probably less than two feet across, and the parapet is less than waist high if you’re of average height. But you can see gorgeous tropical ocean for miles and miles. I held tightly to the wall and took a couple pictures.
Comment from dissent555
Time: September 9, 2015, 2:03 am
I salute you. Doubt I could do this. Gettin’ more and more claustrophobic the older I get.
Comment from Timothy S. Carlson
Time: September 9, 2015, 2:27 am
There’s a temple in Bangkok like this – not narrow, in fact the steps cover almost the entire faces of the spire, but the steps are steep (steeper as you go up) and not very deep – only a third of my big foreigner foot. I guess Thai monks have smaller feet, but the steepness of the steps had to be a major bitch for smaller people.
And no rope to hold on to. Yeah. That.
I made it to the top – but then, I was 32 at the time. I couldn’t do it now if I wanted to. And getting down was the real heart-rate booster. Scared the shite outta me.
It was a very nice view from the top, tho. Very nice.
Comment from catnip
Time: September 9, 2015, 4:23 am
We are witness to an act of extraordinary courage. Well done, Stoaty! (Pretty countryside too.)
Steep, narrow stairs in lofty towers I can do. Traveling through the sky inside humongous tin cans containing thousands of other passengers squinched down to a third of their normal size, I can’t.
Comment from iamfelix
Time: September 9, 2015, 6:30 am
You made me think of this
https://youtube.com/watch?v=soeBL3Vuts8
which my siblings and I demanded that my Dad play his 78 of Every. Darned. Weekend.
I love your adventures – wish I could come with.
Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: September 9, 2015, 7:52 am
iamfelix – Oh, man! I had the same experience with my siblings, except it was the Kingston Trio version.
Comment from PeaceLoveWoodstock
Time: September 9, 2015, 1:29 pm
Of course! – http://i.imgur.com/C52sge3.jpg
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: September 9, 2015, 7:35 pm
Heh.
Comment from Rich Rostrom
Time: September 10, 2015, 10:10 am
Truth is, it’s so narrow, I don’t think you could possible fall far. But it’s scary as shit.
I had a terrible fear I’d get up there and be unable to come down…
The most terrifying thing I ever read was a passage in The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, a 1960 fantasy novel set in contemporary Cheshire. The boy and girl protagonists are trapped in the underground lair of the “svarts”. They escape via a forgotten tunnel, hundreds of meters long, twisty, and so narrow they can barely wiggle through. Just describing it makes my skin crawl.
And now for something completely different.
I’ve been compiling Dead Pool entries and results, and I find a problem with Round 72. Ripley won with B. B. King, whom he picked on 5 May. But Ripley had already picked Norman Lloyd on 10 January. Under Rule 4, Ripley’s first pick holds, and Ripley should not win.
Bobbi Brown died on 26 July. AFAIK that was the DP 72, which is awkward because Bobbi Brown was a winner for Formerly known as Skeptic in Round 75. What to do?
Comment from drew458
Time: September 10, 2015, 8:36 pm
Rich –
I’d call this a pasting error and let it go. Skeptic got DP 72 with Brown, “ipley” got DP 75 with B.B. King, and Rule 4 doesn’t apply because “oops a typo” is a face saving line that covers a large hole in the rules you have accidentally stumbled upon.
If you’d like to opine on the need for a “one member ID per address” rule, and the feasibility of same, I’m all ears.
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