Stick with me for a second …

You’re stood at the bottom of a valley, surrounded by towering mountains.

You have one goal, reach the highest peak.

Not wanting to get it wrong, you decide the best way to go about this is to take a step, check your altitude for an increase, if it’s there great, if not step back, try another direction.

You take your first step towards the nearest slope, your altimeter indicates you’ve gone up! Result!

You repeat this pattern over and over. Step, check, step, check. Always looking down at your altimeter; keeping an eye on that important altitude.

To your delight it keeps going up and up. You’ve got this.

Until …

Suddenly every step is taking you lower.

“This can’t be the top already?”

You’re following the plan. It’s worked up until now.

You slump down … You sit alone, cold at the top of the hill, surrounded by fog … Eventually you stop staring at the useless altimeter, it has no more answers for you. You look up.

“What’s that?”

Across the valley. The opposite peak, it’s a mountain and it’s chuffing massive.

If only you’d gone up that one instead.