That was the week that was

Our brethren across the pond have a habit of borrowing successful entertainment formulae from British telly. "Strictly Come Dancing" has become the altogether more prosaically named "Dancing with the Stars", "Till Death Do Us Part" became "All in the Family" (spotting a pattern of prosaiety here?), "Fawlty Towers" was remade as "Chateau Snavely" (not very prosaic), "Amanda's" and "Payne" (that's more like it). "The Office", already sufficiently prosaic, became, err, "The Office".

Bucking the trend of dumbing down the title was That Was The Week That Was (or TW3), which against the odds kept its name on both sides of the pond. The original British version is more famous, and gave us David Frost, Millicent Martin and the late, great Willie Rushton.

It also gave me a title for this blog. Because it's been a busy week. First up was the launch of the prize draw, which is going strong. A week in, I've sold 80 tickets and they're going fast... don't forget to buy one.

Secondly, the date of the karting evening was finally upon us. 16 teams from Accenture and beyond descended on Sandown Park to hare around the track. Conditions ranged from "damp and slippery" to "bucketing down" but the drivers rose to the occasion and threw their karts around the track, powersliding like the Formula 1 drivers of yesteryear. We might have given Lewis Hamilton more of a run for his money than Fernando Alonso did 36 hours later.

Most importantly, we look set to raise at least £1400 for VSO from that one event.

Finally, I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I've joined a gym. This week, I had my induction. A young lady asked me questions about my current diet and exercise (apparently I drink an impressive amount of water), tested my flexibility (which in my hamstrings is dire. But then I knew that) and told me which exercises to do.

All in all, I've been to the gym three times and done three 40 minute sessions in the hypoxic chamber. And in fact, it's not been that hard. Which brings me on to my second TW3 reference of the blog.

The American version of TW3 is less well known than the British one. But it gave us Tom Lehrer.

There are, broadly, two kinds of people in the world. There are those that have never heard Tom Lehrer, and there are his fans. And yet finding an adequate way to describe what he did is tricky. Satirical singer-songwriter is the factually accurate choice but fails miserably to capture how sharp, relevant and painfully funny his songs are more than 40 years after they were written. "Like a funny Richard Stilgoe" is simply hopeless.

And what has all this got to do with this week's Everest Base Camp preparations? Well, one of Lehrer's best songs is Pollution, written about smog in California in the 60s, but frighteningly accurate about modern-day Mexico City or Beijing.

Or London. Pollution (sung as a cheery calypso) opens "If you come to American city / Sure to find it very pretty / Just two things of which you must beware: / Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air" and later goes on to advise "Pollution / Pollution / Wear a gas mask and a veil / Then you can breathe long as you don't inhale."

It didn't take me long cycling in London to realise that naked inhalation of what passes for air in rush hour is not such a great plan, and wearing a cycle mask (if not actually a veil) is A Good Thing. And and interesting side effect of a mask is that it's basically designed to restrict airflow. So I already do most of my exercise with less oxygen than normal - which might explain why I'm finding that the hypoxic chamber holds no fears for me.

Except one. You may have detected a touch of hubris in those last paragraphs. As you might expect, Nemesis is hot on my heels, this time in the guise of a torture instrument that even Torquemada dared not use.

I am, of course, referring to the Concept II Rowing Ergometer. A machine so brutal that it regularly reduces grown men, even Olympians like Steve Redgrave, to quivering lumps of jelly. My inductress decided that this should be my particular vehicle for cardiovascular fitness. It's a beast of a machine because it leaves you nowhere to hide: you work all the major muscle groups with every stroke. And after a few strokes, you really feel it, especially in a hypoxic chamber.

The upside of that, though, is that it's starting to show in my fitness levels. I was back on my bike for the first time in a week today, and it was much easier both to pedal and to keep my heart rate to a sensible level. I can only assume I'm doing something right.

By next week, we should know for sure. I'm off for our group's specialist training weekend in North Wales on Friday...