Doing the best that I can, at writing, running and living
The plan had been to knock out a blog a day, but until now I’ve not managed to string much time together to write anything. It is our fourth day in India, and it has been an intense jumble of jetlag (5.5 hours ahead of the UK), crazy car rides and activities. My posts, therefore,… Continue reading India: Day One – Getting There
promo posters from the RSC The Red Shoes Fairy tales in the nineteenth century did not have the Disney gilded happy-ever-afters that we expect today. In the original Hans Christian Anderson story, The Red Shoes contained sorcery, amputations and death with a large side of moral instruction. The protagonist’s happiness comes quite literally in the ever after,… Continue reading Two Plays from the RSC: The Red Shoes / Twelfth Night
All the neighbourhood Parkruns are cancelled. Anne and I are hunkered down in our living room and I’m watching the rowan tree outside wave its arms around like Kate Bush in Wuthering Heights. There’s no moorland here but it is certainly wild, and I can hear the gusts groaning inside the chimney as Storm Darragh… Continue reading HRV and Club Christmas Dos
Apparently, Storm Bert brought snow, wind and rain, and cut the power to parts of the UK and Ireland. Someone asked our team captain Rob whether the race would be called off. He just laughed. The only times I’ve known a cross-country race be called off was when there was not enough parking space due… Continue reading BA Cross Challenge – Sefton Park
I am having swimming lessons. I had my first one on Halloween. I was hoping that I’d be clear of the house before the hordes of ghouls and imps came knocking but they’d come and cleaned us out of our thirty-six mini packs of Skittles before I’d even got my cossie in the bag. I… Continue reading Swimming
The clue was in the name: Sunny Hill Parkrun. To be fair, whatever speed I did here was a bonus, considering that wine o’clock had started around lunch time the previous day. Just to roll up for the start was a win. It was yet another murky day, and cold enough to keep my London Marathon consolation… Continue reading Sunny Hill Parkrun
The second Borders race of the season and for some reason I was put in charge. Perhaps the grey hairs coming through give me an air of authority, but it meant that I had to act like the grown up and scan everybody’s barcodes. I knew that most of them would have to wait for… Continue reading Borders League – Tattenhall
Cross country. It causes a bit of a marmite reaction. The hatred usually comes from some teenage trauma, when a P.E. lesson in the winter rain has forced you to shiver in your vest and shorts on some grubby mound at the far corner of the school grounds. With memories like that it’s hard to… Continue reading Clarke Gardens XC Race Again
It was a day that didn’t quite all go to plan. We hadn’t been to Stratford-upon-Avon in a while with one thing or another. So, we were looking forward to rocking up to our usual stay at the Premier Inn in town for a new performance of Othello at the RSC theatre. The hotel had… Continue reading Stratford-Upon-Avon: Othello
I immediately wondered if I was ingesting a gazillion microbes alongside the ancient waters pouring out of the lion’s mouth at St Ann’s Well because it was peculiarly warm. But it tasted pleasant, and I stored some in my water bottle for later hoping the reported healing properties might do a little something for my… Continue reading Buxton: Dr Louise Newson
