Twenty One Days: Mike Rocks Everest

I felt under the weather today, a bit below par and after worrying about Mike catching an illness in the run up to Everest, it seemed that I was the victim instead. I felt exhausted. Must have been all the bed hopping and tiring run up to Mike’s departure for Base Camp. I needed to nip this in the bud as I couldn’t afford to be poorly with Dylan and Evan in tow. I decided to monitor the situation after a day in the office. Thankfully, the boys seemed in good spirits and healthy, touch wood.

Evan often comes into the office with me and can be heard cooing happily in the background. It’s a 24 hour job, running MPO and managing all things Alarm. The day is never done and it is difficult to switch off. The positive side is that I can come and go as I please, especially now I have my blackberry in tow. Alpha femail and all that ;) The office is always busy with a varied collection of calls and emails from Alarm fans all over the world. We try and answer everyone as best we can. Running alongside the fanbase element of the office, is the production side of things (we currently have four projects on the go, all of which need checking and managing - the mix, artwork, manufacturing etc.) We also have the management of tours and the production of one-off events like The Gathering to concentrate upon. It’s never-ending. Today was to be a busy day which immediately started off badly when all our internet connections went down. Full on frustration! I had a chest infection. I couldn’t get on line! I couldn’t connect with Mike on his satellite phone. Give me love. Give me hope. Give me strength. Indeed.

Mike finally telephoned in and it was all I could do to raise the energy to join in with his enthusiasm. It was a new feeling for me. To be displaced from Mike. We had always shared a passion and excitement for pretty much everything. The time delay was really hampering our conversation and the fact that we hadn’t been able to have a natural chat for days on end now was beginning to take its toll. Afterall, we thrive on discussion and here we were having stilted and broken conversations. I could tell Mike was missing his little family too. Leaving the boys is a whole new experience for Mike especially as he is such a hands on father when he is at home.

I wanted to go and sleep for days on end but instead I was being called on my blackberry with requests to interview Mike up the mountain against a background of other mounting work pressures. This was proving more difficult than I expected and I tried to juggle the media requests to be patient until Mike and the gang move higher up the mountain where hopefully the satellite phones will burst into life finally and do their job.

The local media were becoming frustrated and wanted to interview me instead as the next best thing to Mike, about the Everest Rocks trip. The media storm was thickening and news of Everest Rocks was certainly spreading further and further...

Tomorrow was another day and sleep beckoned. Tucked up with my two boys beside me, I tried to imagine where Mike would be, tucked up with his hot water bottle inside his sock (another of Johnny’s tips) and his meticulously packed kit bag. As I gazed up at my Welsh starry sky, I hoped that he was safe and sound in the Himalaya. We missed each other today and I was glad that he was already one step closer to home.