...In Which the Raleigh India 12I Blog Bursts into Life

Good day, guten tag, namaskaara and a very warm welcome to this, the inaugural post of the Raleigh India 12I expedition blog. Please take a seat, make yourself a cup of tea, perhaps even avail yourself right now of those macaroons you’ve been resisting so admirably, and prepare yourself for reports from the frontline of high adventure and great deeds over the coming months.

My name’s Mitch, I’m the expedition’s Communications Officer and, as such, it’s my great privilege to be the one who updates you on all the happenings both here at Field Base and out on the project sites. Expect thrills, expect laughs, expect curry, dancing and possibly infrequent showering (particularly on the adventure phase), but mostly expect fun by the bucket load, and all conveniently situated here for your viewing pleasure.

But, of course, the blog serves other purposes besides giving me a licence to talk. As well as being a source of information on all the latest expedition news, it is also a brilliant and easy to use communication tool. You can leave messages of encouragement and solidarity or playful but profound jealousy to your loved ones as you witness them having the summer of their lives.

To send a message, simply type it in the box below including the full name of the person you’re sending it to and their group name as appropriate, and click ‘Publish’. We’ll then print it off and deliver it for you to the farthest flung corners of Karnataka and beyond. Just a few points of caution though – any messages that you post will be displayed publicly on this blog for all to see, so:

·         In the interests of taste, please keep your messages respectable, or we’ll have no choice but to rub our long, bushy moustaches in disapproval, tut loudly, murmur something about how “standards are slipping” and take them down;

·         Please bear in mind that this would be a badly judged moment to discuss delicate private issues with your little darlings, since we’d all be able to see it.

Otherwise, send send send away! And if you'd prefer to use the good old fashioned snail mail route, you can find our address in the side bar. Letters typically take around 3 weeks to get here.

Next time on the Raleigh India 12I Blog: New Arrivals - Our First Day in India and Photos of Field Base!