And hopefully the End.

2009 February 25
by andydigger

Okai, so the topic in my last blog has not finished already (If you wanted to know what that was about: I am going to run London Marathon in 2010 for numerous charities). It is a different topic all together, but it relates. I am fed up with somewhat failing at life.

I have nothing to lose and everything to gain

But this has helped: Al Pacino’s inspirational speech from the film Any Given Sunday.

We are in hell right now, gentlemen
believe me
and
we can stay here
and get the shit kicked out of us
or
we can fight our way
back into the light.
We can climb out of hell.
One inch, at a time.

I am going to start fighting for that inch. I haven’t fought for that inch for a long time.

So my girlfriend is annoyed with me (whether she is 5 hours away or not, she is annoyed with me). My degree is not going the way that I would like it to, and well, I am not happy with what I am doing.

But I am better for it, man. I realise I have a lot more than many others in this world, and here I am somewhat, taking it for granted. It stops here.

On a positive note, I have just been offered a new job for this summer: Coaching tennis to young children. This is the beginning of a new era. I am fed up with encouraging others and not myself, but let me tell you this now. Those children are going to become the next Andy Murray’s :)

I apologise in advance if this has demoralised you. I just had to say it. I just had to get it out of head. Try not to think so much. I do, and well, here I am writing this.

Let’s do this. Let’s bring the rain.

The beginning

2009 February 23
by andydigger

23/02/2009

Around 00:20. The beginning. Of what you say? An idea, that will hopefully become reality in a couple of months.

It is going to be tough, and there are still many things that lie ahead. Dissertation, Graduation, Venice, 21st Birthday to name just a few but we believe that we can do it, and with a lot of preparation, we will achieve our goal(s).

Over and Out.

R.I.P. Andrew McAuley

2009 February 23
by andydigger

If you do not know who this man is, I suggest that you get to know him. I had not heard of his name, let alone seen his face until about an hour ago.

My father sent me a text message earlier telling me to watch a programme on BBC IPlayer. As most parents do these days – oddly – they cannot text too well, and seem to develop the ‘text talk’ that most illiterate teenagers adopt. I eventually realised what he said and let IPlayer buffer.

I didn’t know what to expect – My dad rarely tells me to watch anything, except for the odd Chelsea or Bristol Rovers highlights at the weekend. Well, I can thank him for this for a change.

Basically, I have just been in tears for about thirty minutes or so. Here is the information to give you some sense of the scene:

The extraordinary journey of a man who refused to be ordinary, this story charts the brave attempt of Andrew McAuley to cross the wild Southern Ocean from Australia to New Zealand in a kayak.

After a month at sea, and only one day away from success, he sent a distress signal. His empty kayak was found only 30 miles from shore. His body was not recovered, but the tapes from his cameras were. This film examines the mystery surrounding the exact circumstances of Andrew’s death.

Words cannot describe this. So I am requesting thqat you watch it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hy0wb/Solitary_Endeavour_on_the_Southern_Ocean/

I am warning you in advance, that this is emotional stuff. I rarely cry about anything, and well, here I am literally wiping away the floodgates.

Kayak 1, I think you made it, too. You are an inspiration.