'ello

My children are already changing their English. Just the other day, my son greeted me with "'ello". I just about expected "gov'na" to come out next. He often will lilt the second to last syllable of a sentence. If you heard it, you'd know what I was talking about. I knew this would happen, I just didn't expect it so soon.

That said, it seems my own accent is starting to change. It's a strange thing. I'm vaguely conscious of it, and I fear that it is interpreted as mocking. Its just the desire to be understood and fit in. When I'm talking with Amanda, it all but disappears. I also caught myself saying "far" instead of "for" in a conversation yesterday. Damn you St. Louis.

Sunday was absolutely beautiful out. I went climbing at Froggatt Edge. It was amazing. Single pitch grit stone, trad climbing. I didn't lead (since I don't know how to set anchors) but seconded, clearing the anchors as I climbed. Very different from gym climbing, but I could use everything that I've picked up at Upper Limits. It didn't really push myself much. I onsighted all the routes we tried. The hardest was an HVS 4c, which I would put at about about a 5.8+. Pretty much stuck to cracks and dihedrals. (Okay, so the last paragraph was for Rob, Jae, Brian, and Alan.)

The most interesting thing was that chalk was only slightly helpful. You could just about smear on the stone without any chalk and just stick to it. It was very rough and very hard. Like a brand new hang-board. Great fun for climbing on. I can see why the Peak District is considered the best climbing in the UK. We even ran into a couple up from London for the weekend just to climb.

Like an idiot, I didn't take a camera. Next time, I'll post my own photos.