Hello and welcome back, how is everyone?
It's been a good couple of weeks since we've had a conversation,
I know, I know, it's been quite busy, I'm going to be totally fair to you.
It really has been a busy couple of weeks. What with the lead up and whatever else
to the skydive,
which I'm going to be talking about today because it's happened, it's been done and
it was incredible. Absolutely incredible, really really enjoyed it.
But yeah, there's a couple of other bits and pieces that have happened as well,
including towards the back end of the show today, I'm going to talk about
an issue that I've currently got going on,
which has only really started in the last couple of days.
But yeah, bear with me, we'll get to that. What I'm going to do today, while I'm
talking,
I've got my phone with me and I'm going to be looking at some of the pictures
from the skydive, just to sort of refresh it in my brain a little bit
because there was so much that happened in such a short space of time that
actually,
kind of taking it all in and whatever else was quite difficult.
I'm going to be totally fair. But yeah, we'll get to that, trust me,
we will get to that.
But yeah, I mean in the lead up to the jump,
obviously I was talking about it quite a bit on social media and whatever else.
Trying to get as close as we can to what I had set myself
as a target that I wanted to hit.
Now I set myself a target of 500lb
that I wanted to raise.
And I'll be honest, there was a couple of occasions I'm thinking,
are we quite going to get there?
Well we did get there.
We got there with a couple of days to spare.
And to say I was incredibly proud
of getting to that point is an understatement.
Proud doesn't quite cut it, I'm going to be honest. I was absolutely ecstatic.
To hit 500lb, I mean the most I've ever raised previously for the MS Society
during the walks and things, was about 260-265.
Now skipping ahead a little bit, a couple of days ago I actually had
my certificate come through from the MS Society for thanking me
and whatever else for raising the money.
Including all the little sundry bits, we actually raised £600.
£600.
For me personally, I sit and look at that and think,
how did we get to that number? What a fantastic number to hit.
£600.
I'm just looking across at the certificate now.
£600 and 99p.
99p.
If only I could put a penny in.
Just to round it off. But yeah, £600
and 99p. Absolutely different class.
So the first thing I really want to do, I want to give a massive shout out to everyone that's
chimed in and put some money in to support, not me, forget
supporting me, supporting the MS Society. Because what they do is absolutely superb.
The way they help people and whatever else.
You know, okay, it might be,
this little section of it might be in my name.
It's nothing to do with me. It's about everyone that supported the charity,
everyone that supported the calls.
And each and every one of you is more appreciated than you would realise.
Genuinely, absolutely huge level appreciation.
Absolutely huge.
Coming away from that, I mean, obviously I'd been in the gym,
really pushing myself a bit, to be honest with you, not to the
real top end, I'm going to be fair. I still had a couple of levels I could have gone to.
I didn't want to push it too hard.
But yeah, I brought my way into where it needed to be, to just under 15 stone.
Perfect. Not a problem at all. I had a week leading up where I just
I basically lived on really good food.
Things like salad and chicken breast, that sort of stuff.
Just to make sure. That's how much it meant to me.
Genuinely, that's how much it meant to me to actually be able to go ahead and
jump out of an aeroplane.
So that was done. And again, I'm going to be honest, it was great.
Getting myself to that state where I had something to focus on in that manner
was really worthwhile. I loved it.
I really did. I loved that drive to look at something and think,
yeah, I'm going to do this. I'm going to get this done.
It really did sort of push me on. It spurred me forward.
And it did. I can't really say a lot more on it, apart from the fact
it really did push me forward. It gave me that drive to keep going,
to get myself in a position where I could do something completely and totally out of the box.
Something I'd never dreamed of doing.
And what I've got to put in there is obviously I'd been doing a little bit of work
with MS News today.
So blogging and writing columns up to the jump.
I was going to wait till after I talked about the jump to mention it,
but now I'm going to mention it now just because I can.
Well, the temporariness of that columnist role isn't actually temporary anymore.
Obviously, they saw something in me and in my writings,
and they've now employed me as a columnist.
So after 20 years in security, and again, I mention that quite a lot.
I can't help myself. I'm sorry about that, but it just gets mentioned.
After all them years in the security industry, I'm now a columnist.
I mean, to an extent, would you call it a journalist?
I mean, I suppose you would, kind of.
I've just literally finished doing some training for it, which was great.
I got 100% on my exam. Just saying.
Just putting that out there right now, right at the early stage.
But yeah, to say that I am incredibly proud of being given that opportunity.
Again, doesn't quite touch it.
That level of pride doesn't quite do it justice.
I'm going to be fair.
Looking forward to doing that sort of work, putting my story out there in a bigger scale.
Obviously, I've got this podcast, I've got my website, social media accounts and whatever else.
But to do it on the kind of scale that's going to be done working for MS News today.
To me, even now, I'm having to pinch myself at times to sort of accept where I'm going with it,
and where it's led me.
So to say that some of the comments I've had from the columns I'd written were positive,
that would again be an understatement.
Comments were lovely. Really, really nice.
I just can't thank people enough for the support.
Again, the way the family, friends and all sorts of support, not just the columns,
but a build up to the jump and whatever else.
They will never ever understand how much I appreciate the level of support that came in.
Because at times it wasn't easy.
I'm going to be straight. I've got to put that one out there.
At times it really, really wasn't easy.
Although I probably didn't show the difficulty of it.
There were little bits that were sort of a struggle, to say the least.
Now I'm going to move forward and talk about the actual jump day itself.
Because that, there was no struggle.
There was nothing at all apart from pure excitement.
Genuine, genuine excitement.
I mean even when we first got to Langar, Skydive Langar,
and I'm thinking to myself, right, at this point I should be getting a bit nervous.
I just couldn't. I couldn't get nervous.
I just couldn't do it.
No matter what I was thinking, it was just a case of get me on that plane,
and then get me out of that plane.
And for someone that's never wanted to jump out of a plane, never wanted to skydive,
to have that thought process of, I want to do this.
I really want to do this.
It just, it was, it's difficult for me to explain.
I'm going to be totally straight. It really is.
I mean when we got to site, went and signed in, the staff on the desk were fantastic, so polite.
Explained to me exactly what would be happening.
Explained to me that I'd be called for the tandem dives to get my security briefing,
my safety briefing, that sort of stuff.
And when the briefings come around, which was only probably about, I don't know,
20 minutes or so after we arrived, could be slightly less,
sat there and I was talking to other people that was doing the jump,
and there was only five of us, and I was the only one from the MS Society.
I'm having conversations with people, and obviously, I don't want to go into too much detail,
but there was three others that were jumping for different charities,
and everyone was so polite, so nice, so friendly.
It was just unbelievable. It was so good. It was really, really nice.
I mean, even to the point of actually physically showing that you're capable of doing the movements
that's needed to do the dive and whatever else, everyone was so supportive over it.
And I was told at that point, oh, you're going to be on the second plane.
OK, cool, not a problem. Went and had a bacon sarnie.
That was worth it. It was really quite nice.
I'm going to be fair, it was a really nice bacon sarnie.
Anytime there's bacon involved, it's totally acceptable for me.
Yep, going to say that.
Anyway, now a fancy bacon. Thanks very much, Brian. I appreciate that.
Anyway, so once that was done,
eventually got a call over to Tanoi to go to the jump area to meet my instructor
and to put him a flight suit and whatever else.
And as soon as I met my instructor, stood at the gate waiting for me.
What a nice guy, such a nice fellow.
Introduced himself. We had a bit of a chat.
He sort of said to me, do I want to wear a flight suit?
I said, yeah, let's go for it.
So got into that. Wow, that was tight.
My word was that flight suit tight.
Just going to put that one out there.
But I can understand why it needed to be.
But OK, anyway, so got into the flight suit,
met I paid for the video and photograph package.
So I met the photographer as well.
Again, really nice guy.
Explained how the photography side of it would work and whatever else.
And I explained to him that obviously, if it's OK with himself,
the video and whatever else would go on to social media or on to the MS News
Today site and whatever else, that was all absolutely fine.
I made sure he got credited for that.
But after that, it came time to go to the plane.
Yeah. And as we're heading to the plane.
And I'm thinking to myself.
Right, at this point.
I'm about to get on a small little aircraft.
Go up to 10,000 feet in the air.
And then leave the aircraft before it touches down.
I should be getting nervous right about now.
I just couldn't get nervous.
I just couldn't do it.
Even at that point, there was just nothing.
So I was having a good chat with with my instructor, with with the cameraman.
And they were just in a way kind of helping a little bit,
and especially with my instructor,
because I couldn't have my crutches at the time, I didn't have my fez machine on.
So I was walking the best I can to get to the plane and very gently.
They were helping.
And it was massively appreciated because.
And walking is not the easiest thing in the world for me to do.
I think everyone by now knows that.
But I did what I could do and I got onto the plane, climbed on.
Yeah, climbed on, climbed onto my knees to get into the plane, because.
It just wouldn't have been another option.
I had to be on my knees.
But we now sat on the aeroplane.
And getting all connected up.
So all the clips and whatever else that the instructor needs to clip me to him.
That was being done.
And I'm thinking to myself, surely now, surely now there's got to be some concern.
I couldn't stop smiling.
Every picture that was taken of me on that plane, I'm smiling.
I just couldn't help myself.
It was just such an incredible feeling.
It really was.
When we got up in the air and I'm going to sort of try and cut it a little bit down to
size here.
When we got up into the air, we got to about maybe nine and a half thousand feet, maybe
nine and I put me goggles on that needed to wear.
They were tightened up for me.
Blimey, they were tight too.
And then it got to ten thousand feet and the green light went on.
And genuinely, it wasn't a case of being excited anymore.
It was a case of pure and utter elation that were at that point.
And even to the point we're shuffling across to sit on the edge of the plane and we sat
there on the edge of the plane.
Only for a few seconds we sat there.
And I looked down at the ground and see how far down it is.
I look at the cameraman.
The cameraman smiles at me and I just looked at him and said, let's do this.
I couldn't help myself.
I really couldn't help it at all.
I just had to get it done.
And at that point we left the plane, did this sort of little back flip thing.
And I'm thinking to myself, wow, that's loud.
I mean, you can hear the wind and whatever else.
Oh, wow, it was loud in my ears.
But again, I could not stop smiling.
I can't say that enough.
I just couldn't stop smiling at all.
Mega, mega excited.
We're doing the freefall, freefalling for about 30 seconds.
And then the parachute opens and it goes from so loud to just peaceful.
Literally just peaceful.
And you're just looking at the ground.
I had the opportunity with assistance, obviously, to have a go at flying the parachute a little
bit.
That was great.
I really enjoyed that.
And yeah, it was just such a nice chilled experience at that point.
It really was a nice chat with the instructor.
We got to the landing point and I pulled my legs up brilliantly.
Absolutely fantastic.
I am aware of the instructor sort of use these legs just to move mine up just ever so slightly
so I could grab the little handles on my legs.
But we landed and again, I got interviewed at the point of landing for the video.
And I think the video tells a story about just how excited I was.
I just couldn't stop myself.
Couldn't stop smiling.
Couldn't see the family on the ground when I landed.
Honestly the experience was it's one of a lifetime, genuinely experience of a lifetime.
It's something that I wouldn't actually be frightened to do again.
Quite the opposite.
Maybe one day, no rush, but maybe one day in the future I might look to do it again
because I want that feeling again of freefall.
Just genuinely that 30 seconds freefalling.
It was just something else.
It's a feeling.
It's so difficult to explain.
It was just so liberating.
I think it's probably the best way I can put it.
It was unbelievable.
But yeah, that's probably about as much as I need to discuss of the skydive.
You know, since it, I've spent a lot of time talking about it.
I can't help that.
I've discussed it a lot with people.
Put videos up on my social media accounts and whatever else.
But yeah, as I say, the fact that I'm now going to be working for the MS News today
as a columnist, that's something I'm incredibly proud of.
Off the back of all of it.
The amount of money raised, superb.
I'm going to go on to something very briefly now.
I'm a bit mindful of the time.
We're about 19, nearly 20 minutes long already.
I mean, wow.
I'm going to very briefly talk about the last couple of days.
My back has been atrocious to the point, actually I ended up on the floor yesterday, which wasn't
nice at all.
I had this incredible twinge and pain in my lower back.
Put me on the floor for a minute or so.
Thankfully Lisa came and helped me up.
But it's things like that over the last few days, I have noticed leg issues that they're
feeling a bit weaker than they do normally.
I can't work out why.
I'm wondering maybe.
Is it?
I don't know.
Have I overdone things a little bit recently?
Do I need to have a bit of time relaxing?
Which is possible because I must admit I've been incredibly busy.
I really have.
So I'm going to give that a go for a week or so, see what happens.
In the hope that it is something and nothing.
Fingers crossed.
But yeah, I mean there's that new issue.
Let's say new.
It's one I've had in the past but it just seems a little bit worse currently than it
ever has done previously.
Last thing today.
I've got somebody to thank.
When I say somebody I mean something.
My mobility scooter, Eleanor, done me brilliantly for a year.
Absolutely done me really really proud for a year.
Four mile an hour machine.
You know, I couldn't be happier with how it's gone.
But unfortunately she's kind of worn herself out a little bit.
I'm told the motor is probably on its way out because it's a four mile an hour machine
going up and down hills all the time.
The motor's kind of wearing itself out.
So on either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week I have my new mobility scooter being
delivered.
It's a reconditioned one.
I'm not spending the money necessary to go and buy a brand new one.
But yeah, I've got a new machine coming.
An eight mile an hour machine.
Bit bigger.
I've had a go.
I've had a little ride and very comfortable.
Really nice suspension.
Yeah, quite looking forward to it to be honest.
But yeah, I mean after a year of being out and about on Eleanor it's going to be a shame
to see her go.
It really is.
But you've got to move with the times on these things haven't you?
When new things are required you just accept it and smile and carry on.
That's how I'm going to leave it.
That's just how I'm going to leave it.
Well as I say, it has been a couple of weeks and I'm kind of hoping I'm getting myself
back to a good state now.
I'm trying to sort of relax things ever so slightly.
Get myself back into the position I was in probably about a month or two months ago.
But we'll see.
Well I hope you've all been doing really really well and I will be back to one podcast a week.
And you never know what happens in the future is about maybe an extra one on top of that.
But let's not discuss that right now because let's just get back to one a week anyway.
I hope you all have a good one.
I'll speak to you all soon.
Bye bye.