I did not take this picture

But I did climb this wall, astonishingly. Yes, that's me.

While I was building my house, the building work that was going on in the car park behind, was converting some offices into a bouldering centre. Which meant not only that Secondborn no longer has to go to Reading to climb but also that she can call round to mine very easily afterwards.

I dislike precarious heights, I get dizzy when I look up, I have something wrong with my hands, my knees are a bit dodgy and my feet are not climbing-shoe-shaped, but I am (almost) always up for doing something new, so I asked Secondborn if she'd show me how bouldering works. Back in July I did the online training, took the online test and, when I went in to register and have a look round, I correctly answered all five safety questions they unexpectedly asked me.

Today was the day we went to have a go. I really didn't expect to do any more than crawl horizontally along the beginner wall about 30cm above the floor, if that. But once I'd done that it felt a bit feeble so I thought I'd see if I could get 60cm above the floor on a wall with higher holds. I could. I did. I even enjoyed it and was surprised that it didn't bother my hands. So I went a bit higher. The white holds are the easy beginner ones and I didn't get any more complicated than those but I climbed several walls, enjoyed it so much more than I expected and came out exhilarated. I will go back.