The magic thing is that right now I am actually in the middle of some mountains with a pair of planks strapped to my feet, throwing myself down pistes in the freezing cold in the name of fun. Although, right right now I am in the office writing this, but when you are reading this I will be in the alps. Clever, huh?
I knew there would be mass outrage if you didn't get a blog post while I'm away on holiday, so I craftily decided to compose one in advance and techno-whizz Simon has taught me how to save the post and then set a special timer so that it will be unleashed on the world on Tuesday. Step by step I am gradually getting over my 'technological disability' as my sister has so kindly put it.
Technology is still kind of mysterious and magic to me, and it got me thinking about the great magic tricks out there. Of course one of history's most famous magicians was Harry Houdini (real name Erik Weisz, in case you were wondering) who liked to escape from locked things, chains, handcuffs etc. One of the most exciting tricks was when he would escape from a locked milk can. Amazing! Even better than this was 'The Chinese Water Torture Cell' (which already sounds terrifying to me). It involved being suspended upside-down in a locked glass-and-steel cabinet full with water. During the trick he had to hold his breath for over three minutes. Eek!
Then there's David Blaine, who likes to call himself an 'illusionist and endurance artist'. Mr Blaine has done some truly extraordinary things. He was 'buried alive' for a week in 1999. Entombed in an underground plastic box underneath a water-filled tank for seven days he supposedly ate nothing and drank only two to three tablespoons of water a day.
As if this wasn't a big enough achievement Blaine decided in the following year to freeze himself in a block of ice. The stunt was called 'Frozen in Time' and he stood encased in an enormous block of ice in Times Square, dressed only lightly and with a single tube supplying him with air and water. He stayed in the ice for an astonishing 63 hours, 42 minutes and 15 seconds before being removed with chain saws.
After this, Blaine hopped across the pond to London where he was suspended in a transparent box above the South Bank for 44 days. The stunt caused him to lose a shocking 25% of his body weight, he also had hypophospatemia when he was eventually unleashed. Now I like doing the odd card trick, but I would never go to such incredible lengths in the name of entertainment. I'm rather baffled as to why you would put yourself through such challenges, but then again there are a lot of things my brain doesn't understand.
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