Growing up, I used to think that skydiving was the most dangerous thing you could do with your clothes on, closely followed by bungie jumping. However, on a more day-to-day level these two couldn’t compare to getting our budgie out of the cage without getting viciously attacked. No, that was a serious feat that required nerves of steel and pretty serious gloves, you see. The reason for this was that our Budgie could bite – yes, I said BITE – through anything. And I do mean anything. Which is why she died early if you ask me: with such a vicious attitude to captivity, it wasn’t surprising that we found her on her back with her legs in the air after only three years of living.
Talking of dangerous things, it’s amazing how progressive us humans are at inventing new and even more dangerous ways to experience getting a rush. One such thing which I am told ranks right at the cutting-edge of almost killing yourself is proximity flying (or wingsuit proximity flying as its known by mentalists everywhere). This involves donning a kind of bat suit and jumping off a cliff. Best results – and thrills – are achieved when you do it off a cliff where there are lots of bits sticking out which you have to dodge at speed...
Watching this on TV the other day, it was hard to believe it was actually real. Allowing the enthusiasts to travel not only down but forwards simultaneously, they were hurtling towards the rockface, and several times were less than three feet from it...
The best part of the documentary for me was the way it made these mentalists – sorry, hardcore enthusiasts – to be so normal; some were doing primary teaching jobs or working as electricians, and then on the weekend they’d fly to Switzerland to hurl themselves off cliffs.
Well, I am fine, thank you. I highly doubt I’ll be entering into this any time soon. That said, it was fun to watch, and they say it isn’t that hard, once you’ve done about 800 sky dives and are experienced...
