The week before Christmas

240 year old graffiti. Click to enlarge.

Looking towards Skidby

For me this is an exciting week and yet there is nothing of particular excitement happening. There is a long list of things for me to do so that I can ensure a clean get-away on Friday when I venture down to London, then on to Kenya. It's a bit like the week before Christmas. You want everything to be just perfect but a lot of effort needs to go in to make it happen.

Having said that, something a bit unusual did happen on Monday. Where I live in Beverley there is a Minster that dates back to the 1200's. It's not as big as nearby York, but glorious nonetheless. I have soft spot for the building and a few years ago I even had spell as a Minster Welcomer - someone who wanders around the building trying to look friendly and helpful. In truth they are also there to stop people nicking the candlesticks. On my first tour as a Welcomer the place was burgled! Some youths broke into an office that was slightly away from the main building. I walked within a few feet of the intruders but didn't notice a thing. They must have found me very welcoming.

On Monday access was given to the north east tower of the building, something that rarely happens. Someone said it was 30 years since the last time, but I'm sure I've seen people up there more recently than that. As you can imagine there were a number of steps to be climbed - about 220. The reward was a fantastic view over the town and it's environs. It was a clear day and in the distance the shape of the Sledmere Monument could just be discerned. I was assured that this was 20 miles away.

On the way to the top we passed through a chamber that connects the east and west towers. On the walls there was a lot of graffiti, both ancient and modern. Some of it crude and others very ornate. Most of it seems to originate from the various craftsmen who have and cause to work in this part of the building over the last 200 years or so.

For me these marks are one of the most important aspects of the Minster. In medieval times it was used as a school and on some of the pillars in the main body of the church there is some naughty schoolboy graffiti. Whatever doubts I may have that magnificent buildings like Beverley Minster are more to the glory of man than to the glory of God, I am always touched by the fact that is also a record of so many people over it's 800 year history. Even the building itself is divided into sections where different styles hold sway. This is because it wasn't one continuous building project, but built in three phases, each one interrupted by the great plague.

Unfortunately I was never left alone long enough to carve 'Middle Agged Gapper woz 'ere' , for future generations to marvel at.

Going back to my preparations for my trek around East Africa, one problem I always have is packing too much stuff. This time I need to get it right and the fact that my sleeping bag is taking up a fair bit of space in my back-pack makes it essential to keep my luggage down. This has presented me with a deliciously painful dilemma as I have decided to limit myself to only 2 books. But which 2? Last night I counted the books on my bedside table, most of which I have at least dipped into or started reading. There are 22! They include a range of travel books, a book about angels, a promise by Paul McKenna to make me thin and a glorious collection of 12 Commando Comics all bound together under the title 'All Guns Blazing!'

I have dithered about this choice all week, as if the success of the trip depends on it. My present favourites are: a Bertie Wooster novel by PG Wodehouse - probably 'Right Ho, Jeeves'. I mean what journey would not be made better by an escape into the Drones Club to witness the behaviour of Tuppy Glossop and Gussie Finke-Nottle? This is closely followed by a collection of the Blandings stories by the same author; next is 'The Van' by Roddy Doyle. A fellow student lent me this back in May and I feel a moral obligation to have read it by the time I go back to university. It's also a brilliant book and a great example of good novel writing, that might encourage me to finish the one I've started writing; then there's 'Riotous Assembly' , by Tom Sharpe, which I read about 20 odd years ago and found hilarious. Has it stood the test of time? Finally there is 'Generation Kill'. This is written by Evan Wright, a journalist embedded with US Marines during the second Gulf conflict. I couldn't get enough of the TV series that it inspired (although no else seems to have seen it). I have avoided buying the book but it was discounted at Tesco's this week and fell into my trolley.

Decisions, decisions. And of course there will be a the temptation of the airport book shop to negotiate too. The latest Nick Hornby came out yesterday.....

Whatever I choose I hope really that it's all irrelevant as I will be spending 24 hours a day trying to get that perfect photo of a big cat or a gorilla. And even if means leaving Jeeves and Wooster at home I will ensure there is room in my bag for the dozens of pens and pencils I have bought in the hope of handing them out at some of the villages on the journey. Maybe I can encourage some naughty school child graffiti. In the end it's always the people that are the most important part of any journey.

Live long and prosper.