Blog

Flying high, with our fresh starter Jade...

Posted: Jun 13th 2011, 16:18

“Here at Fresh we know how important charity is and like to do our bit. So as a new employee, I thought I’d kick off my career with some sort of extravagant gesture, and decided to do a sponsored sky dive to raise money for The Christie, our local specialist cancer hospital. I have absolutely no clue how I came to the conclusion that doing a sky dive was a good idea, as I’m scared of flying and tend to avoid planes at all costs. I can only presume that I was a) drunk, b) joking or c) both, when it was suggested to me. As the weeks went on, the panic may have got the better of me and I considered leaving the country and changing my identity, but I couldn’t decide on a new name for myself and had to stay put. So eventually, the day came and we arrived at the sky dive centre in Weston to meet our fate. I do however blame the extra nerves for what happened next. When we were asked whether we wanted a cameraman to jump out of the plane with us and film the experience, both my Dad and I said yes. However, this confused me greatly and before I had time to think, I had asked how the cameraman would get back up to the plane in time to film my Dad’s jump after he had filmed mine. At this point, the instructor fell about laughing and told me we would each get our own cameraman, and he wouldn’t be required to defy gravity and get back up to the plane to film the next jump. Who knew?! As the day went on, we were kitted out in a jumpsuit and an oh-so-attractive helmet complete with goggles, so we at least looked the part (if ‘the part’ actually means ridiculous). It took 20 minutes to reach the altitude which we were jumping from - a mere 13,000 feet - and then the door was opened. Luckily, it all happened very fast and we were out of the plane in second, and…I never thought I’d say this but, it was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. After all the build-up and nerves, I’d do it again tomorrow if I could, despite that when we landed the wind was very strong and we ended up being dragged backwards for a few metres, meaning I ended up in a heap on top of my instructor. Not the classiest of landings but I’m fairly sure he expected it from me after the day’s events!
All in all, it was an amazing experience and I managed to raise £600 for Christie’s, which I was very proud of. However, in case anyone’s wondering…jumping out of a plane at 13,000feet definitely does not cure a fear of flying!"