Earth-sky-earth-sky-ambulance Charity tour for Tadworth Children's Hospital
Once more, Mathias (and the co-drivers) are setting off on a charity car tour in aid of Tadworth Children's Hospital, our company charity for the year.
On Friday morning at 07:30, Mark Harvey and I will be attempting to drive from Canary Wharf to Monaco. Within 36 hours.
But not in any ordinary car - in keeping with the current austere economic climate, this is a a banger (that's a cheap car, not a sausage, I mean not links, for the Americans reading this) that cost less than 500 GBP. At the destination it will be donated to charity - or possibly scrapped before then, if it blows up or we crash. We've named the car "Christine" - after the Steven King novel - and it's our naiive hope that the car will manage to repair itself. Because neither of us have a clue how to do it.
Providing navigation for the pair of us will be the Headless Tadworth Teddy (he can't see, and yet has a better sense of direction than Mathias), and acting as co-driver on this trip will be Mark Harvey, who remains blissfully unaware (em… right until be he reads this) of the myriad hospital fates that have befallen almost every other partner in Mathias's sporting endeavours.
These have ranged from:
And also…
All costs of the trip (car, carbon offset, insurance, accomodation, fuel, medical care, subsequent PTSD* treatment) are borne by the victims team members; all the money you give will go directly to the charity.
Yes, we know. You've had lots of charity requests. It's the time of year for it. But none of the others have such a chance of an entertaining accident or disastrous explosion, so please give generously.
You can donate at www.justgiving.com/TeamChristine .
Or you can come to see us off at Columbus Courtyard, Canary Wharf, from about 07:30 on September 16th if you're in the area.
* Post-trip something disaster.
On Friday morning at 07:30, Mark Harvey and I will be attempting to drive from Canary Wharf to Monaco. Within 36 hours.
But not in any ordinary car - in keeping with the current austere economic climate, this is a a banger (that's a cheap car, not a sausage, I mean not links, for the Americans reading this) that cost less than 500 GBP. At the destination it will be donated to charity - or possibly scrapped before then, if it blows up or we crash. We've named the car "Christine" - after the Steven King novel - and it's our naiive hope that the car will manage to repair itself. Because neither of us have a clue how to do it.
Providing navigation for the pair of us will be the Headless Tadworth Teddy (he can't see, and yet has a better sense of direction than Mathias), and acting as co-driver on this trip will be Mark Harvey, who remains blissfully unaware (em… right until be he reads this) of the myriad hospital fates that have befallen almost every other partner in Mathias's sporting endeavours.
These have ranged from:
- Crashing a mountain-bike on the black run at Val D'Isere ("The first thing I heard, after I regained consciousness with a broken radius, scaphoid, clavicle and 3 ribs, was Mathias laughing. I also noticed he had gently 'poked me with his foot' to see if I was alright whilst I was unconscious")
- Cold-planing a brand new Yamaha YZF1000 on the Bruges ring road ("After the accident, Mathias said 'trust me, I'm a doctor", pronounced me fit and healthy, and gave me a cigaratte. The broken ribs and collapsed lung he had inexplicably missed made smoking it difficult.")
- Demolishing the only solid obstacle for 3 miles at Snetterton racetrack with his head ("All I remember is bouncing along the ground at 70mph and then I hit the marshal's hut with my head. Mathias checked I was alive before emailing a picture of the wreckage back to the office")
- Dislocating a shoulder mountainbiking in kent ("I'd previously made a rash comment about whipping his ass so hard he would be crying out for his Mum. But after I crashed, he nearly ran over my head, then he called my mother instead of an ambulance so she could laugh at me")
And also…
- When I arrived at hospital, they took one look at me and admitted me straight away. This wasn't helped by the fact that whilst I was unconscious waiting for the ambulance, Mathias had painted me green using food colouring for a joke.
- "All I can remember is everything going earth-sky-earth-sky-ambulance and then I woke up in hospital".
- "I could tell what they were doing was a really bad idea, but intead of warning them I thought I would just watch for a bit in case it turned funny…"
All costs of the trip (car, carbon offset, insurance, accomodation, fuel, medical care, subsequent PTSD* treatment) are borne by the victims team members; all the money you give will go directly to the charity.
Yes, we know. You've had lots of charity requests. It's the time of year for it. But none of the others have such a chance of an entertaining accident or disastrous explosion, so please give generously.
You can donate at www.justgiving.com/TeamChristine .
Or you can come to see us off at Columbus Courtyard, Canary Wharf, from about 07:30 on September 16th if you're in the area.
* Post-trip something disaster.