I'm a woman

I'm a woman
Photos copyright Laurence Gouault
No reproduction on other media without the photographer's permission.

Thursday 28 February 2013

Power without technique, Stevie Haston.


So I've been watching election politics, I'd rather watch paint dry but I am concerned at the moment that two countries that I love get decent caring governments. Italy has just had a massive turbulent electoral campaign which has resulted in a hung parliament, it will end in acrimony and infighting in a confusion of coalitions. Malta where I live is in the middle of one of the dirtiest bits of mud slinging I have ever witnessed, there's been an incredible amount of graft and corruption here over the years but people want it to stop, good luck, but maybe you should vote for what is right and not just for your pocket.  




Wealth without Work
Pleasure without Conscience
Knowledge without Character
Business without Ethics
Science without Humanity
Religion without Sacrifice
Politics without Principle

Very clearly I have done many bad things in my shabby life, but as I grow older they are getting less and less. I was brought up extremely well and had some great teachers but obviously my natural selfish, and lazy character, subverted any good I could've done. Luckily I was not a politician. I was just a climber. Still and all, I managed to screw up the thing I loved the most because I had power without technique. As I watch the political circus I laugh at myself, Power  I have had, it was a gift, but the real gift is in knowing what to do with power.

Oh yes, today I did a new route, and so did Laurence, two great little wonderful bright things, they made our lives sparkle just for a while, but you can do them too, they are our gift.

Wednesday 27 February 2013

Between a Rock and a Soft Sky, by Stevie Haston


Rock, sky, flowers, cactus, thorns, sweat, falls  from the sky towards the earth.  




 Laurence on a 6b she thought was lovely, on a crag called the Black Slab. 


 A new route  which is humiliating me, but will be a pearl, it's brute but it's a pearl.

One of the strange indigenous plants on Malta and Gozo. Lots of flowers at the moment, some of which come from South Africa, imported by the Brits. The winter Daffodil comes from the Canary islands but is just past its best, and was introduced by the French I think a few centuries ago, just another example of the islands flora, which is more numerous than in Britain or Northern Europe.

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Gozo is great by Laurence Gouault.Haston

Today went like this...
La journée d'aujourd'hui est une longue histoire...
This is the cliff where I went climbing...
C'est la falaise où j'ai grimpé dans la soirée....



Looking down from the boat...
La vue du bateau...

Me taking some sun on the boat...
Bain de soleil sur le bateau...


 Escaping the winter of France, this morning -5°...
Fuyant l'hiver ce matin -5°

End of the day
La fin de la journée
Routes done... a gorgeous arrête 6a+, face and overlap 6b...fantastic rock.
2 voies de grimpées, une arrête magnifique 6a+ et une dalle avec un délicat surplomb...6b sur du BEAU rocher...Beau geste...
Then the Orangoutang husband, who has gone completely Maltese/Gozotan, walked up Iggy's theory 8b+.
Puis mon mari d'Orang-outan , complètement dingue comme un Gozotan, à randonner  "Iggy's theory' 8b+, très très Cimai...