the runs

Some baby news first. Sal, AJ and I met friends Matt and Melanie for breakfast on Sunday morning. AJ was typically angelic. Having slept her typical all-night she simply exuded cute and lapped up the attention. Then, in the afternoon, we went all the way to the house that backs onto the bottom of our back garden to have a drink and a chat with our neighbours. AJ, once again, performed the role of ridiculously well behaved baby. Even when the two boys of the house started to play and prod her she remained happy and gurgly and only as we were starting to leave did she have anything remotely approaching a grump. She is unbelievable. The sleep thing is beyond a joke. Last night I got home from work and she was sleeping. We got her up for a bath, a quick play and a feed and then she went back to bed, without a murmur, at a little before 7pm. This morning I got up at 5:30am to walk the dogs. I got back a little before 7am and AJ was still in bed, fast asleep. This is, of course, fantastic. However, I feel slightly cheated out of some time with little 'un. "OK dad, you just got out to work, me and mum will have a bit of a snooze; close the door on your way out. By the way, I'd like a brown pony." I look forward to spending my allotted twenty minutes of time with my daughter again this evening.


Anyway, to the runs; not the crop-spraying-shits, but rather the exercise. On Sunday we met Matt and Melanie in Mosman. Once Sal had AJ attached to the boob at around 7am I was pretty much surplus to requirements - they both go back to sleep after AJ's first feed. I decided to run to Mosman via my usual Middle Harbour trail run. I've not completed this run for a while, and typically when I do this route the weather is warm and humid. Not so on SUnday morning. A southerly wind had a bit of a chill, humidity was next to zero and the run was lovely. Whether or not I completed it more quickly than usual I do not know - I've not checked. But it felt quicker. I stopped for a quick chat with some dog walkers, took a few pictures of Bantry Bay and managed to run (albeit VERY slowly) all of the Timber Getters Trail. I'd arranged to meet Sal at Spit Bridge at 9am and got there in 1hr55m at 09:00:30. All in all a very nice run, followed by a very nice breakfast.

The breakfast spot is worth a namecheck. Fourth Village Providore in Mosman is a restaurant and small market occupying an old warehouse. The food was great, the market sells produce from the owners own land and the owners work in the restaurant. It is a little slice of the way I would like the world to be; people doing what they love doing, doing it well and making their lives out of it. Makes this (volunteer) wage-slave quite jealous, and, of course, the owners might secretly hate their lives. But I doubt it. Anyway, if you're in the area and you need some olives or a feed or a coffee you could do a lot worse.

And so to yesterday. With meetings at lunchtime I missed my usual early-afternoon jog. Rather than work through and simply go home I decided to go for a late, late run; run, come back and check for messages, if none then cycle home. At around 3:30pm the heavens opened and I um-ed and ah-ed but decided to have a run anyway. Very glad I did. I headed out a little after 4:15pm into a wet, cold Sydney. I decided to pick up the pace a little - both to keep warm and because conditions were right for a quicker run - head over the Bridge, around Lavender Bay and back to the office. The rain eased but kept falling, and to the west the sun started shiniung through some slightly broken cloud. The combined effect was rather spectacular. The peak spectatcle came as I ran back towards the Bridge from the boardwalk in front of Lunar Park. The sun shining from behind me was illuminating the Bridge in fine detail and lighting up the Opera House against an angry, cloudy backdrop. A vivd rainbow was falling, apparently, right onto one of the sails of the Opera House. And then, just as it could get no better, an Australian Navy minehunter the HMAS Diamantina I think) came steaming under the Bridge. It was surreally spectacular. You will, of course, have to take my word for it as I had no camera to capture the moment and nobody to share it with. C'est la vie.