March isn’t the ideal time of year to be jumping in the rivers of North Wales. With snow on the hills still and persistent light drizzle, the water temperature is 4-6°C and the air only fractionally above that.
However, Dave from Boulder Adventures called and said he had a new gorge to explore and would I like to tag along. Jumping, swimming, climbing and sliding, all mixed up with a little adventure, of course I would!
This story from the days of the Apollo missions is probably apocryphal but it does raise an interesting point about the difference between job descriptions and vision.
In 1967 a journalist is wandering round NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory talking to people involved in the Apollo missions.
He encounters a man wearing the default engineer’s uniform of a white shirt and blue tie, a slide rule sticking out of his top pocket.
“Sorry to interrupt” says the journalist, “but do you mind me asking what you your job is?”
“No problem” replies the engineer, “my job is to calculate the mass flow rate of RP-1 fuel through each of the engines of the Saturn rocket”.
The journalist dutifully writes this down in his note book and thanks the engineer. In the office across the hallway he finds another man, dressed in a dark suit. He knocks politely then asks,
“Hello, I’m doing an article on the staff at NASA and I am trying to find out what peoples jobs are.”
“I’m the Lunar Module Flight Plan Director.” says the man in the suit, “I manage and approve all changes the the LMFP.”
Again the journalist writes down what the man says and wanders off to find someone else. At the end of the corridor is a man in NASA overalls sweeping the floor. Under the blue and red logo is the word ‘Janitor’.
Sensing the possibility of a human interest story the journalist approaches the man
“I can see you are a janitor”, he says “but what does your job involve?”
“That’s easy”, replies the janitor “I’m putting man on the moon”.
Have you ever been lost? In the hills? In the city? Underwater? In your own mind?
Jamie Neal has. Christopher Columbus has. Macaulay Culkin has.
We’d love to hear your story, comment below or mail me.
If any of you regularly listen to podcasts I can’t recommend The
Dirtbag Diaries enough. Fitz Cahall introduces and narrates these short journeys into outdoor life.
From tales of accidents and examples of extreme courage to silly stories and beginners luck, Fitz does a great job of getting to the soul of the outdoor person. He comes closer than most to explaining why we go into the hills or onto the river and push ourselves beyond our comfort zone. Read More
Once upon a time, on a dark and stormy night a traveller arrives at a small village, carrying nothing more than an empty pot. Suspicious of the stranger and in the midst of a food shortage, the villagers hide away in their houses and refuse him food and lodging. Seemingly indifferent to the hostile atmosphere, the traveller fills a large pot with water from the village well, drops a large, smooth stone in it and places it over a fire lit in the village square. Read More
We don't change organisations, we change people. People change organisations.
