roryosullivan.co.uk

The company I work for treated all it’s staff to a special present at Christmas. We got the choice to pick one of several options for free as a present. From the traditional Christmas hamper to a variety of activity days, theatre tickets and spa sessions there was plenty to chose from. As I read through all the options one stood out as looking like a lot of fun and son on Tuesday I jumped on the internet and booked my session at Airkix in Milton Keynes.

The Airkix Building in Milton Keynes

So this morning after a restless nights sleep, I made my way down the road and onto the train across town before jumping on another train to Milton Keynes. Airkix is situated on the mind boggling squared block about a mile or so from the train station at the back of the Xscape. To reach it you either enter the Xscape complex which is full of fast food outlets and shops, you then head to the snozone (where you can ski and snowboard), through the snozone you will find the Airkix entrance.

The Airkix Entrance at Xscape in Milton Keynes

After arriving slightly early I signed in and made my way to the viewing gallery to see some ohers, it was clear it was going to be fun but it also looked difficult. I made my way back downstairs and got ready for the briefing which was clear and concise and went through the basic hand signals and what would be expected of us. Once briefed we dropped our belongings into the lockers and got kitted up with suit, goggles and helmet. We made our way into the tower and after watching the last couple of flights from the group before us we sat down in the holding area. It was time to fly. How well did I do you ask, well you’ll have to judge for yourself. And you can. Here, now.

Rory – Airkix at Milton Keynes from Rory O’Sullivan on Vimeo.

Alternative youtube version – http://www.youtube.com/v/9VTVasaEFZM

Well? what did you think, I sort of flew for a bit, I needed some help a couple of times but on the second run I managed to twig what the instructor was telling me about how to go up and down and understood the very basics. Would I do it again? Hell yeah, it was great, thoroughly recommended, it can be a little pricey but it’s cheaper and safer than skydiving (according to their information). I spent the train journey home thinking about how I could have controlled my movements better, how my arm and legs made me turn, or go forward, or how even the heavy belly I have could make me go upwards!

I even got a few ticks on the certificate to show what I did, so all that flailing around you saw apparently means: I have attended the introductory class and flew in he tunnel; Can follow instructions and and fly in a basic flying position with little assistance; can hold a still and controlled body position, can move forwards and backwards with reasonable control and I can move up and down the air column. What do you mean I didn’t do all of them? It says so here!

My Airkix certificate and DVD

I woke up around 6, then 6:30, then 7, then, well you get the idea, I finally surfaces around 11am this morning, the severity of my hangover was amazing, I slept on and off from about 5pm, the sleep was punctated with waking up feeling awful or coughing or both, occasionally I had a full sweat on. I tried watching a film (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) which took my mind of the hangover successfully for 2 hours (it’s a very good film, soundtrack amazing, predictable ending though) but as soon as I tried to crash out I felt bad again.  After watching the film it was time to go for one last cigarette, at abut 11:40pm  I smoked that last cigarette. It was a nice cigarette. I miss it already.

I then proceeded to head back to bed were I lay awake and thought about a few things for a while before putting on the Paul McKenna Relaxation/Quit smoking MP3. That certainly did it’s job, I relaxed and I dozed off to the sounds of McKenna’s voice, I woke up about an hour later, the mp3 had finished and I twisted and turned and attempted to sleep again.

At around 6 when I clearly had got a couple of hours sleep, I woke up quickly.  I coughed up a lungful and went back to sleep, I can vaguely remember words and phrases from the audio saying things like “your lungs are relaxing” so maybe they relaxed enough to losen some of the debris that no doubt fills them up.

Today itself has been purely about doing as little as possible, especially anything that is part of my monday routine. I’ve not been at work today so there are no temptations there and i’ve hardly eaten which helps me stop having the after meal cigarette. I had to call into a conference call this afternoon but apart from watching episodes of Two and a Half Men, The Sarah Silverman show and what was the best waste of a couple of hours, Shoot ‘Em Up,  I’ve done nothing, on purpose, to resist temptation.

I have definitely felt like smoking several times today but i’ve not resorted to playing the MP3 again, or giving in. I will be strong, I’ve typed this up about 10 times to make my fingers do things and I’m now rambling, time to treat myself to a Pizza and and attempt to beat the temptation of a post meal cigarette.