Further East than Streatham

There's a video up on the Leica site in which I talk about going on my trip to Tibet. Big thanks to Conor for shooting it — in a Tibetan restaurant in Paris, no less — and editing out all the bits where I giggle and say things like: "Er, I don't think I've ever been further east than Streatham."

Oh, hang on, we left that bit in. But it is definitely NOT true. Obviously, Paris is much further east than Streatham.

Tibet

My plans to cosy up all winter by the fire were put on hold this week, when I got an email telling me I'd been chosen to take photographs in Tibet for Leica cameras. Eep! I'd entered a writing & photography competition, and, not really thinking I'd ever actually win, lazily picked "Tibet" from a choice of ten sunnier, more accessible destinations. Leica will give me money, a camera, and warm clothing, and as long as I send them pictures from Lhasa before the end of February then my route, bookings, and travel plans are entirely up to me.

Well, I may as well have stuck a pin in a spinning globe. I knew nothing about Tibet until this weekend, when I started googling it with a rising sense of panic and alarm. And now I'm going there, in February, on my own. I know! I'm as startled as you are.