Paragliding is boring, dangerous and expensive

Paragliding is boring, dangerous and expensive

My friend and much valued colleague Bryn always tells me to blog about non-work related stuff. Today is Saturday. I love Saturdays.  It’s the one day of the week when I try to do absolutely nothing work related. Today I went flying.

Jon's feet on flickr

So why flying, or more accurately paragliding? Amongst other things I think it is the simplicity and self sufficiency of it all that makes it such a good antidote to work and our day to day lives. You really are pulling the strings. You can’t jump off, take a break or rely on anyone else. You have to deal with what is thrown at you. Right there. Right then.

So why the blog title? A long time ago I worked with the guys at Wings and Waves in New Zealand. We had this printed on our t-shirts. Most of the time not. But some of the time yes. You don’t always get to the hill and find it flyable. You can spend a lot of time and effort getting to that point. Sometimes things can and do go wrong.

If I haven’t put you off go check out Jérôme Maupoint’s photos and be inspired further.  If you want to learn to do something boring, dangerous and expensive the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association can help point you in the right direction.  It’s worth it.