Year of the what?...

Some might be wondering why this is called year of the mountains. We all have goals and targets to reach and most of them or achievable and some not so. The some that are 'some not so' are actually achievable if you put your mind to them and are prepared to put that little bit extra effort into making it all happen.

My mountains this year are diverse, some are actual mountains and some or them other mountains. The actual mountains are the ones that I will be snowboarding down in 3 days time in Les Deux Alpes. The summer mountain is the one I will be throwing myself down on a mountain bike, and the third mountain is the one to do with work which I will be throwing myself against.

I begin a new career within the company I work for as a Health and Safety coach sometime in the middle of February. I will be working at an Energy from Waste plant coaching employees on the shop floor and management about Health and Safety. My Interest in H&S started many years ago as a safety representative where we were the 'new breed' of safety reps in an ever changing and expanding company. Being involved in many aspects of being a representative I was involved and witnessed how the company was changing and the way operations had then become more safety minded. Having that small knowledge in me within the first year or so planted the safety seed.

As I worked my way up through work from being a site operative/rep to a team leader I began to implement my own way of dealing with issues at work that no one would notice or had not been trained to notice or rectify like us reps had. From being a team leader/rep I completed more courses along with my NEBOSH General Certificate which I passed. I remember finding out that I had passed whilst on a lads holiday camping in Glentress, mountain biking and competing in the annual Team TTT 

wheelbarrow event. More on Team TTT later on.

I applied for  a few H&S jobs within the company and even knowing that I would not be a perfect candidate for some of them I put in for them anyway to gain experience. 

There was a time in 2010 when two jobs came up: Health and Safety Coach at the EfW and a Site Supervisor at a local Transfer Station. Weighing up the options I took the latter job concluding to myself that I could make more of a difference being a Supervisor implementing my own procedures rather than being a coach and having no responsibilities. I think that decision could have came back to haunt me but didn't as I did make many changes and implement new procedures at the Transfer Station and made a massive difference to the way people work there with the help of a dedicated few who where keen to dance with me throughout my years there.

I think being at North Tyneside matured that seed that was planted as a safety rep many years ago and made me realise what I wanted to be when I grew up.

This brings me onto my next mountain which is to complete my NEBOSH Diploma that I will be taking in Occupational Safety and Health. 

I'm hoping with my new job role in H&S and in the Energy from Waste plant will help me climb this next mountain of completing my Diploma.

My only hope is that at the top of that mountain there is either a snowboard or a bike to come back down on.

House Move

Along with having to pack for the alps in 4 days we are also having to pack for a house move which is going to take a full day. This would be fine but we need to move out on the 4th Feb which is the day after we get back from France after a 16 hour drive.

This week is all about packing, packing for the holiday, packing for the house move and to finalise everything and place the cherry on the top - pack for a job change. Come mid February I will be changing job roles within the company from Site Supervisor to Health and Safety Coach at an Energy from Waste plant (EfW) in Teesside. No doubt I'll be bleating on about particulars later on in this blog.

At the minute boxes are stacked to one side of the living room with more boxes joining them after they are filled. So far we have Jennifer's room complete, two cupboards cleared, all my clothes, books etc, kitchen utensils leaving some cupboards bare and only 3 knives and forks lonely in a single drawer by themselves so we can eat for he rest of the week. Feb the 4th will come sooner than we think but will be an anti climax to the holiday we would have just had but also a new beginning for us all, in a new place making our own mark, in a new chapter.

Where to start, where to go.

So, might as well start by introducing myself. My names Mark Bone and I'm 31 years old from Newcastle UK, married to a gorgeous wife Sophia and have a brilliant daughter called Jennifer aged 11 from a previous relationship. Working for a large waste recycle company in the Health and Safety field for the past 10 or more years.

Lying in bed one night and I get a text off one of my best mates, Chris Ridley who I have been good friends with since high school that he has just booked the mountain of hell. Now the mountain of hell is a downhill bike race down a glacier in les deux alpes to the bottom of the mountain in the summer time. We have been talking about doing this for at least a year after hearing about it from a friend. I think after having the chance to snowboard down this mountain in winter 2012 it has taken us some guts to actually place our self forward for this race.

The text comes through and I'm excited ' MOH booked, check out facebook'. Laptop already in hand I check out his booking confirmation, a quick nudge to the wife next to me and a nod that I can do this shit and I'm booked too.














The next days follow and other mates sign up, Kinton, crazy George and Mo. Were going for it.

Now I need a new bike, current bike is a 2008 specialized rockhopper. This bike has taken me through the thick of endurance races, downhill sections at Innerleithen, twisty reds at Glentress, bike rides with the daughter up and down the coast of South Shields, Kielder deadwater, all with fantastic people.

Telling Soph that I now need a new bike results in the  'I thought you said it would only cost £60 for this bike ride? Now you tell me it gone from 3 days away to a week, turning into a little lads holiday'. Yip turning into a lads holiday alright.

She is fine with it of course, she is fantastic and would do anything to keep me happy.

Mountain of Hell aside, we have a trip to Les Deux Aples to conquer first as we are off snowboarding next week. Me, Soph and Jennifer driving to the French alps. The days are drawing closer to the annual snow holiday where I do everything to relax hard.

The preparation for this holiday is mounting. This is the first time I have drove over to France but the french authorities make it a living hell in organisation for us British to travel over there. The list of goods we need is endless, Red warning triangle, spare bulbs, snow chains...... Also topping the list is what we need, cool box to keep our produce chilled until we can get over there, this would be fine, but the iphone holder is plugged into the cigarette lighter and I need to order some additional cigarette lighter sockets to plug the cool box in all with ensuring that the amps travelling through the adaptors are enough to power the cool box, the laptops, the ipads, the iphones, the camera and whatever else we need to plug in there for a day and a half worth of travelling until we get there.

4 days to go and everything has been ordered. It is now a waiting game to see if Amazon can deliver before we set off.