And, we're back

Thank god that's over with. Like most people, I had a little chuckle when the queen described her annus horribilis. Not any more. Suffice it to say that I've been far too busy writing lectures, giving lectures, fixing telescopes, training and trying to climb to keep you entertained with my erudite outpourings of wit. I'm sure you've coped, somehow.

One of the things I've been mulling over whilst I've been incommunicado is an issue of self-awareness. I'm sure we all meet dicks from time to time. However, I assume that most dicks don't know they're dicks. Which raises the interesting question of how to tell if you're a dick. Is there some objective test of dick-ness? Some set of hard criteria against which you can measure how much of a dick you are, so to speak.

One trait all dicks seem to have in common is that they don't seem to think other people matter as much as they do. If you think that you're more important than the people around you, it's hard to understand why you shouldn't get special treatment. That guy who thinks he should get to the front of a traffic jam by caning it down the outside lane. He's a dick.

Also, dicks seem to think that everyone else is an idiot. The spuming, ranting fool on the Internet who can't accept you have a different point of view. He's a dick, because he assumes you're stupid, just because you don't have the good sense to agree with him entirely about absolutely everything.

So dicks think they're more important than the people around them, and everyone else is a moron. There's only two problems with that. The first is that, based on those criteria, I don't come out half as well as I'd like. The second is that what if, objectively you are more important and more intelligent than people around you. Does that make you a dick?

One person who is definitely not a dick is Ned Feehally. Lovely chap, total beast. Here he is introducing me to the genius idea of warming up on a fingerboard.



Brilliant idea; the same warm up every time and without trashing your skin! One of the reasons Jerry Moffatt is such a legend is his professionalism. WWJD is a great mantra for the aspiring hero. Jerry would never go on a Spanish sport climbing trip without training stamina. Jerry would make sure he had great skin to try his project. The only problem is that, since Jerry stopped climbing, we can add no more top tips from the tip-top to our list. Perhaps it's time to find a new paragon of professionalism? If so, I suggest Ned.

WWND? He'd probably have stopped writing pages ago.

Location:Hammerton Rd,,United Kingdom