31 Days, 31 Memories - Day 30

[bironic]

There was going to be one about vomit tonight but I've spared you. Have some acrophobia instead.

30. Middle School

My family and two friends and I were on vacation in Toronto, visiting the city’s tall CN Tower. Near the top of the spire were viewing balconies and, inside, steel and glass walls and sections of clear hard floor so you could see straight down to the rooftops and sidewalks. Terrified of heights, I flat-out refused to step out onto the glass.



Tomorrow's the last day, my friends. Think of a good memory and let's go out with a bang.

Minds out of the gutters.

Comments

[catilinarian.livejournal.com]

My family was visiting a naval museum - I don't remember where - and the best exhibit was the decommissioned submarine you could tour. We got to walk through the tiny corridors and the dim, close rooms with their arrays of strange lights and bewildering equipment, and at the end, emerged onto a small fenced-in platform on the top of the submarine. From that rather unnerving height, you could see the whole gorgeous expanse of the river.

My brother, with a little boy's sense of occasion, leaned over the side and spat onto the hull of a nearby speedboat.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

And in this one scene we see the essence of the difference between Cat and her brother, or perhaps girls and boys, or perhaps -- what? dreamers and rebels?

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

I would never have gotten out on that glass either!
I was so terrified when being in a 30m tall tower with a fenced-in platform that I couldn't even walk on the playform. I was something like 11 then.

I'll give you one on conquering acrophobia for the real memory:
I mentioned a trip to Ireland in an earlier memory. Well, on that trip, we visited Blarney Castle, a fairly famous ruin. It has The Blarney Stone set in the walls some two or three stories up. It's climbing half-broken stone stairs with only one wall and such nastiness. I made it up there and I made it down. I didn't manage to do as is custom and kiss the stone because you have to lie down on your back, lean over a hole in the floor, and kiss the bloody stone with your head upside down. I couldn't do that. I might be able to know. But that was the first big step in conquering that fear.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Is that how you kiss the stone? Yikes. My fear of open heights has diminished in the past few years, but I don't think I could have climbed up there without a railing.

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

Yeah it is. There's someone there to help you and I do think there's a sort of grid a meter or so below the hole, just in case, but still. I couldn't. And I'm pretty sure there wasn't a rail.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Terrifying. The only thing worse than an open set of spiral stairs is a slippery and crumbling open set of spiral stairs.

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

I agree! At least it was a bright and sunny day.
I'd like to go back someday. To Ireland as a whole, but also to see if I could actually do it now. I'm not sure about that, though...