2011 Streak Day 239 (Sunday Aug 28th): Gathering in the Park

2011 Streak Day 239 (Sunday Aug 28^th): Walk - 2 miles, Time 45min,  Weather - grey

A bank holiday weekend in the park and there has been all sorts of activity. The fair is still there, there had some sort of fun day, which was being packed away when I arrived and kids were gathered at the skate park. I like this sense of people gathering.

Wandering around, not feeling like doing much, I enjoyed watching others being active.

2011 Streak Day 238 (SaturdayAug 27th):OK then rub it in

2011 Streak Day 238 (SaturdayAug 27^th): Walk - 2 miles, Time 45min, Weather - grey again

The alternative to a brief walk to the park was to take my car to the canal and then have a stroll along the towpath.

Today I was passed by a group of women jogging along. I wondered what sort of group because they didn’t look like a running club (oh yes you can tell the dedicated runner!) but then thought no more about it until I turned a corner and saw them doing aerobic exercises.

A Saturday morning exercise group using the canal and a nearby patch of green space - what a very nice idea. They were a very jovial group (there were more than you can see in the photo), obviously there for companionship and fun than flinty eyed obsession. When I walked by one of them asked if I wanted to join in, another time I might have taken them up on it but today walking was all I could do.

It reminded me of how often in various parks and open spaces you see trainers leading small groups. The growth in personal trainers is something I have noticed over the last few years. It used to be the preserve of Hollywood actors and the very rich but now it is mainstream, which can be only be good if you believe there is a trend towards unfitness which needs to be counteracted. However I wonder how long it will be before other councils follow the boneheaded example of Hammersmith and Fulham who want personal trainers to pay for the privilege of using their parks.  This article has an excellent illogical statement public spokesmen are prone to when trying to justify something dodgy: 

Michael Hainge, of Hammersmith & Fulham parks department, said the council is anxious to use parks to fight obesity, but wanted "to ensure programmes were not simply aimed at those already inclined towards exercise".

How do little groups of exercisers in a big open space inhibit anyone else? If anything they might even inspire others.

We now inhabit a strange neoliberal world  where everything is seen in terms of personal commercial transactions and a council can see its parks in those terms.

P.S. The headline of the article includes nannies amongst those who might be affected. Mary Poppins where are you?

2011 Streak Day 237 (Friday Aug 26th): Feebleness ascending

2011 Streak Day 237 (Friday Aug 26th): Walk - 1 mile, Time - 20min, Weather - grey

It cannot have escaped the notice of any eagled eyed reader that I have fallen behind in my blogging and am writing this in retrospect, trying to catch up. Partly this is because the last 3 or 4 weeks have been difficult.

From the last couple of posts you will have noticed that things had not been going well. The run on Tuesday had been a failure - something that should have been routine became impossible; Wednesday’s walk had been hard with my mind fuzzily elsewhere; and on Thursday I just watched a cat.

On Friday it became clear that I was not well. I had a cough, headache, my chest that felt it was being squeezed, and my legs felt watery weak.

So what about the Streak? The condition is that I have to get out of the house everyday and do something for 365 days. What to do?

For some stupid reason I did not want to give it up. As I wasn’t completely incapacitated I decided to keep going as best I could, doing the minimum. It would be not very much but at least it would be something.

I don’t know whether that was very smart because the infection dragged on and all I did was survive. They were days of emptiness with nothing much to report. I will thus whisk through the upcoming days with very brief posts marking the days and showing I kept going but little more.

For many of those days all I did was walk to the park at the bottom of my road and walk back again. On Day 237 the fair was still there to give me some extra colour.

2011 Streak Day 236 (Thursday Aug 25th): Attention

2011 Streak Day 236 (Thursday Aug 25^th): Walk - 2 miles, Time 45min,  Weather - grey

I stood and watched this for some time. The cat was one side of the garage roof whilst doves were on the other: preening, cooing, walking up and down. The cat was in tension as if every muscle was ready to spring, yet it was poised. The only thing that moved was its head, which followed every movement of the birds. It was in a state of high awareness yet the birds seemed oblivious to any danger.

I wanted to see what would happen.

My mind has been formed by watching too many cartoons and I imagined a Tom and Jerry scene, with the cat pouncing, missing and then flying over the edge -splat!. But real cats are a bit more canny than that.

The birds seem happy with a cat so close, maybe they are playing a game and backing their quick reactions.  For some reason they did not fly away.

In the end nothing happened. 

But whilst I was watching I was entranced by the balance of the cat and the way it was poised, ready for action. If as runners we are trying to be a good animal, we have a long way to go. Boy oh boy am I lumpen in comparison.

2011 Streak Day 235 (Wednesday Aug 24th): Dreamlike

2011 Streak Day 235 (Wednesday  Aug 24^th):  Walk - 4.1 miles, Time 1hr 25min, Weather - Scudding clouds, patches of sun, patches of grey, quite warm

In the beginning of the film Michael Clayton George Clooney stops his car in the middle of nowhere and walks towards some horses that have appeared from the dawn mist. As he reaches out there is an explosions and the car he has just left  is a fire ball. The horses run off. There is a strange dreamlike feel to the whole scene and in particular to the horses in the mist.

Nothing dramatic happened to me today. There were definitely no explosions but I had the same dreamlike sensation as I came across this hooded horse, standing peacefully in the wooded fringe of a field, his coat dappled with sunlight. It was ever so slightly weird. I have not seen a blindfolded horse horse before. I assume he had had some sort of treatment but I don't know much about horses and that is only supposition.

It was just odd, I was walking on a footpath, small stream to one side, wood to the other, completely alone. In such places the imagination can have a feast.

Other than that it was a day in Cambridge with my exercise being the walk back to the Trumpington park&ride. I could still feel yesterday  and it was a bit of a slog but I survived by going slow and looking around.

2011 Streak Day 234 (Tuesday Aug 23rd): Decay

2011 Streak Day 234 (Tuesday Aug 23rd): Run - 1.75 miles, Time -  17min, Weather - nondescript

There is a reason for the flower picture - it shows decay.

Most of my other picture have shown plants developing and then coming into to bloom - at the height of their powers, if you will. But this one shows that things do not last, they wither and then are gone.

Just like my ability to run. I am not sure if it ever came into to full flower but now everything seems to have gone. All my powers have withered.

I ran for less than 2 miles but felt desperate all the time. "End it!  End it!" my brain was screaming. Part of my conscious mind was saying "No the schedule says 5 miles we must go on" but the other half was saying "Oh what is the point. What is the point!"

There was no point. Going 5 miles would not have achieved anything, The 1.75 miles I ran achieved nothing. I crawled home and felt whipped.

What had happened? where had all my strength gone?

The rest of the day was spent in a fog of unknowing.

2011 Streak Day 234 (Monday Aug 22nd): Rest Day

2011 Streak Day 234 (Monday Aug 22^nd): Walk - 1 mile, Time - 20min, Weather - Wow there was sun

The picture is of a garden umbrella. Sun, an actual bright yellow ball in a blue sky sun, is shining through making it a bright vibrant red. It is amazing how the weather can affect your mood - a bit of summer sun and everything in the world feels more relaxed and easier.

Sitting out this time of year should be the norm but this August has been mostly grey and damp. Even the weather in France was not as bright as normal.

It makes me think of the term ‘climate change’. Famously a Republican strategist, Frank Luntz, advised George Bush to use the term climate change instead of global warming because he felt it sounded softer and less threatening (and they wanted to push away any action on the environment). In someways this is an example of how politicians seek to hijack language in support of their own ends but in this case I think he might have inadvertently helped.  Global warming does not mean that everywhere gets warmer: it means the overall temperature of the globe is rising, with immense variations in local weather patterns. As most people only tend to notice the weather they themselves experience it is very easy to think warming is not happening if you have a bad summer. However the strangeness of recent weather patterns is hard to ignore. It is climate change.

Anyway, sitting out, having a rest day after the 10 miler, everything is as it should be. Thoughts about the use of language are just one of a number of things that floated across my mind. But I have no desire to bore youa with a stream of consciousness.

2011 Streak Day 233 (Sunday Aug 21st): A little bit weary

2011 Streak Day 233 (Sunday Aug 21^st): Run 10 miles, Time 1hr 43min 20 sec, Weather - changeable, mostly cloudy but the rain held off

My schedule told me it was time to run 10 miles. A couple of years ago (or even most of last year) that would not have been a big deal. It was a distance I regularly ran but this year everything seems harder and I have yet to go that far. So I approached the run with a little trepidation.

In the event I don’t know whether to be pleased or disappointed. The plus side is that I did it but the minus is (and it is quite a big minus) I ran out of steam with a mile to go. It was a act of will power to keep going. (use of the old trick of "just to the next junction and then see how you feel", then " just to the next lamppost" etc, etc).

The problem was probably that I had been too ambitious. Knowing that the Folkestone half marathon has a big hill towards the end I threw in a big hill on this run. Humph! perhaps it didn't work out quite as well as I hoped.

Nevertheless it was done and the weariness made the recuperation all the sweeter. It cannot be said too often that those moments when you stop, but feel you have done enough to earn the rest, are especially sweet. You can stretch out and enjoy being still.

The photo is also of something I find enjoyable, that speaks of an English summer: a cricket green, a match and a couple of people watching - magic!

2011 Streak Day 232 (Saturday Aug 20th): More diggers

2011 Streak Day 232 (Saturday Aug 20^th): Walk - 4 Miles, Time 1hr 10min, Weather - bright early on but clouds then gathered and there was some rain

These diggers amused me: tethered like horses in a temporary corral, resting before they are let out to mend the road. I looked at them and thought of any number of cowboy films.

After my legs had felt so tired, it was important to have a low key day. and so today was a gentle walk to B&Q to buy some tools. It was enough 

2011 Streak Day 231/365 (Friday19 Aug): Hours of Practice

2011 Streak Day 231/365 (Friday19 Aug): Distance 5 miles Time - 48min 50 Weather - sunny and quite warm, a big change after yesterday

Another run where I stopped on the dot, which shows not only that it was a bit of a struggle but also I am a bit dumb. Yesterday's hills were quite hard so I should have  eased back with a gentle recovery around the park. As it was my calves were tired and there was no zip.Tomorrow must be a rest day.

This got me thinking about Bounce, which I mentioned in the last post. Matthew Syed's thesis is that champions are made rather than born - it is not a matter of innate talent but of hard work. He follows the Malcolm Gladwell line that it takes 10,000 of practice.

My body is not capable of putting in those sort of hours. It needs time to recover or it breaks down. This suggests talent and genes have a say in the ability to put in the necessary hours. Those who have the innate ability and a suitable constitution can both, see the rewards and put in the hours. It is very difficult to stay dedicated if you are getting nothing back.

Yet initially the book seems very convincing. Good evidence is presented about the importance of practice and one is easily carried along by the advocacy. But as I read it I had the same uneasy feeling I had when reading Oliver James about the importance of parenting in forming a persons character and emotional stability - yes  it is important but is it sufficient to explain everything? I have always been amazed at the intellectual energy spent on a nature vs nurture debate that sees it as an either/or.  By all means argue about the percentage split but don't dismiss one or the other. It is exactly the same with talent vs practice.

As a key piece of evidence Syed cites the 1993 study by Ericsson (as does Gladwell) that looked at the hours of practice accumulated by the best, good, and less good violinists and showed that there was a distinct difference in the average hours of practice for each group. In other words the best practiced more. 

This article from The Science of Sport, which is a very considered response to Bounce, includes something rather surprising about the Ericsson study - although he showed the average practice times for the different grades of violinists  he did not show the variance, i.e. he did not show the standard deviation within each group. It is perfectly conceivable that there could be people from the less able groups putting in more hours than some in the more able group but not seeing the result. Conceivable but I do not know because the study withholds the information. 

When weight is be placed on a study you would hope it covered everything openly.  You would also hope it accorded with a broad range of other studies but as the Science in Sport article shows there is contra evidence.

Bottom line is that you can get a very long way by working hard but I still believe champions have something extra.

However that is not of much personal concern as I will never be a champion. I can only hope to do the best I can and be satisfied with that. 

That best includes the concept of rest and enjoyment. Hence my picture of someone, at ease, reading by the canal. A waterway for slow paced boats and slow paced runners.

2011 Streak Day 230 (Aug 18th): Very wet

2011 Streak Day 230 (Aug 18^th): Distance - 3 miles, Time - 28min 20sec, Weather - rain, rain and then more rain

This was one of those days when you could not believe it could continue to rain so hard for so long. “Wait till it eases off” I told myself, “just a little longer” but as time passed and the sky was still a solid, unremitting grey, I became less convinced there would be any change. By the middle of the afternoon I thought that if I left it any longer I would not run at all - and I had to run.

Originally I had planned to do 4 to 5 miles but in the end I ran 3. It still seemed quite heroic but in the circumstances as I really don’t enjoy it when it rains so hard it drips straight into your eyes and your clothing i sticks close to your body.

What I lacked in distance I made up for in intensity with a hill session. It was a quarter mile loop: hard up, easy down, repeated 10 times. After the first couple of repetitions I thought 5 would be hard  but I kept on going thinking “just one more” until I reached my target. At the end I bent down from the waist, hands on hips, panting - whatever the weather I could console myself with the thought that I had made an effort. 

When I had dried off and drunk my cup of tea I even felt satisfied.

The photo is an indication of the amount of rain by showing the rain gathering in our wheelbarrow (though sensible people would probably have parked it upside down).

2011 Daily Streak Day 229 (Aug 17th): Skatepark or fair?

2011 Daily Streak Day 229 (Aug 17^th): Walk - 3.75 miles, Time - 1hr 10min, Weather - actually some blue sky in the morning but the clouds soon gathered.

The day after giving blood is no time for any vigorous exercise - a gentle walk, tops. 

Walking through the park I saw another fair setting up. Just beyond the site is the skate park, which was full of kids hanging out and doing stunts and I thought of the difference between the thrills. On fair rides you are thrown round and tilted at crazy angles so that your adrenaline surges and your stomach flips. On the bmx or skateboard you get a similar  adrenaline surge when you leap or twist but with the difference that you are practicing a skill and are developing all sorts of abilities.

When I look at the kids doing their tricks I wonder at two things: balance and bravery. Some  things can only be done if you fully commit at speed but the faster go the more it hurts if you fall. When you are learning there must be an awful lot of bruises but you can only develop by accepting the risk and the occasional injury

I recently read Bounce by Matthew Syed and one of the interesting asides is the observation that the best ice skaters fall over more frequently than skaters who are merely good. The reason is that they are always trying to push their limits, working hard at the edge. The courage of top performers is something I have never thought too hard about but this made me realise it is crucial. In any sport you cannot reach the top without taking a hell of a lot of lumps.

In the fair, where all the thrills come from power, speed,  and throwing the body around, you need to be absolutely sure of the safety of the rides. If something goes wrong it is potentially fatal. In the skatepark you need to make sure it is is not hazardous (eg rickety structures or sharp edges) but the aim is to provide an environment where people can take risks and perhaps get a little hurt.

Odd the comparisons you make when you see things side by side.

2011 Streak Day 228 (Aug 16): Giving blood

2011 Streak Day 228 (Aug 16): Run 2.25 miles, Time - 20min 35sec,  Weather - guess

Another short run today but the simple reason was lack of time. It was something I had to fit in before giving blood. The photo is of the church in which I bled.

It was started in 1952 and shows more than any other building the poverty of the architecture of the time (a stretched brick box does little to lift the spirits). This was a combination of two things: the first was a prevailing design philosophy that took Scandinavian modernism and toned it down to dull; the second was an actual lack of resources as the country was recovering from the war.

Inside though the church is surprisingly bright. The windows let in lots of light, the walls and ceiling have been freshly decorated in bright colours, and there are plenty of flowers. It only goes to show that you should not judge a building solely by its exterior.

in our mixed group of blood donors there were only two young girls but both of them were in trouble. They were laying on their beds with a damp flannel on their brow,  feet raised, and being attended to by nurses. They looked very pale and shaky. It made me wonder if any particular demographic is likely to react badly to giving blood; in other words are girls particularly susceptible or is this a random quirk.

I have no answer and probably never will. It is just one of those questions that flits across your mind when you are doing nothing but clenching and unclenching your fist.

2011 Streak Day 227/365 (Aug 15th): Pathetic

2011 Streak Day 227/365 (Aug 15^th): Run - 1.1 miles, Time - 10min, Weather  - Gloomy

Pathetic! I think I will draw a veil over this run except to say that I followed the dictum of Joe Henderson. He advises you to run for a mile before you deciding the sort of session you should complete. A mile is enough to warm up and clear away the usual early run sludge and allow you to tell how strong you felt. Today the answer was not strong at all and I didn’t want to go any further. There was no spring in my step and no enthusiasm to force myself onwards. So I stopped, looked up the hill and walked back.

I am not sure whether that is failure or realism. It is what I did and that is all there is to it. The veil is drawn.

Today’s picture shows a couple of things: 

The first is how unremittingly dull the weather is. The pattern for almost every day has been to start with grey cloud, which may or may not bear rain, followed by patches of blue sky later in the afternoon. As I tend to go out in the morning I only get to see the wet or the grey.

The second is to show something about Hemel - it is a low rise town. The initial plans were drawn up by one of the leading landscape architects of the time, Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, who envisioned not a city in a garden but a city in a park. It is still a town of low density, with many green spaces. There is no vantage point from which you can see its full extent.

If I had been feeling strong, this particular green space would have been good for a tough hill session. But as we already know I did not feel strong

2011 Streak Day 226/365 (Aug 14th): Mind/body

2011 Streak Day 226/365 (Aug 14th): Run - 7.5 miles, Time - 1hr 14min, Weather - there had been rain but it was merely cloudy

Time for a longer run. If I am going to do a half marathon in September I have to try to extend my runs, even if it does feel hard work.

It was a sunday morning and so everything was fairly empty, which made the discovery of road-stripping plant hidden away in a quiet parking place, all by itself,  seem a little bit eerie. Not a sight I expected but I was amused by the big brother, little brother look.

As for the run - there was no breakthrough. I had hoped the regular running in France would have made a noticeable difference and this would feel like a breeze. But there can be a wide gap between hope and reality. It was not bad, I did not struggle too much but at the same time it didn’t feel any progress. Most disappointingly the last half mile was hard and I was happy when it was over.

P.S. When I said most of the last half mile I was referring to that strange phenomena of feeling progressively more tired until the last 100 meters when suddenly the sight of the finnish line lifts the spirits and your form picks up. Finding you were not as tired as you thought, when just a couple of minutes ago your body had told you it had nothing left, is common.  It is a small part of the evidence that supports the theory of the central governor but even without such a theoretical underpinning it shows how much a run is governed by the mind.

2011 Streak Day 225/365 (Aug 13th): Slapstick

2011 Streak Day 225/365 (Aug 13^th): Walk - 4 miles, Time !hr 10min, Weather - still grey

It has taken three days to get to the canal. Usually when I return from holiday it is my first run - a form of touching base. Today however was a walk. My legs felt weary and told me that although I had done OK, I could do with some rest. But total rest is impossible in  2011!

The gentle walk was fine but on holiday such a walk would not even have been mentioned in the daily stats.

Along the way I saw three young men (twentyish), dressed in suits with ties loosened off, messing about on a row boat. They were trying to get from one side of the canal to the other but lacking oars they were using a lump of wood to paddle. Progress was unsteady but they reached the other side only to be berated by one of the boat owners, whereupon they abandoned the row boat.

I can only think that young men in suits on a Saturday lunchtime meant they were refugees from a wedding.

I can remember something similar from my youth. After a wedding, three of us decided to play golf in rain so hard nobody else was out on the course. Being drunk we did not care how wet we got and also being drunk we found every inept shot funny. My own low/high point happened when a three wood slipped from my hands when driving off (as I said it was very wet and the grip was slippy) but then I could not find the club. I looked all around but it was nowhere to be seen as I went through the classic ‘searching for something lost’ routine of looking again and again in the same place and being just as surprised each time that it wasn’t there. I had all but given up when I looked up and saw the club hanging from a tree like a long catkin. It had obviously flown up and the head had hooked itself over a branch - amazing. I retrieved it and carried on with a puzzled look on my face like Stan Laurel.

Sometimes I think I still see life as a never ending silent comedy.

2011 Streak Day 224/365 (Aug 12th): Another ending

2011 Streak Day 224/365 (Aug 12^th): Run 2.21 miles, Time - 21min 26sec, Weather - greyish and dull no enlivening characteristics

On holiday I managed to get up at 6:30 and go out for a run before breakfast. Could I carry on at home?  Sometimes I have done it but never consistently. Is it even worth the effort?

I thought I would would give it a go to see if I could establish a virtuous habit. At first it was good as I felt the flush of pleasure that comes from knowing that you have won a small victory. I enjoy seeing the beginning of the day and the town waking up and early morning runs are a grand thing.  I thought this for about a mile and then my stomach complained - all that joggling up and down was not to its liking.

Bugger! I managed a couple of miles but then had to walk, gently back home. 

From this point the experiment of early morning runs is formally abandoned. It is too hit and miss. Some days are fine but others are a disaster and I can see no pattern as to what would cause the variance. It is just not worth worrying about - so I won’t. 

The picture comes from later in the day when I walked in the park. It was full of people enjoying themselves in various ways. These kids were on their way to the skate park to do jumps and tricks.

The weather might be remarkably dull - but it is still the school holidays. People still need to get out to play.

2011 Streak Day 223/365 (Aug 11th): The riots were elsewhere

2011 Streak Day 223/365 (Aug 11^th):  Run 3.04 miles, Time 28min 40sec Weather - grey overcast and definitely much cooler than France

This run required a great deal of discipline. 

We arrived home about 9 am and after some unpacking there was a food shop and the gradual realisation we were back home and it was time to get back to normal.

It takes a bit of time to readjust after being away. I always come home and feel that things must be different because I feel different and am always slightly surprised that they are much as usual. The house is still standing and Hemel has not missed me - all is as it was.

However the news that there had been rioting and looting in other parts of the country is a great shock. Usually riots have reasons or a cause but these did’t seem like that. The only comparable rioting I could think of was Brixton and Toxteth in the early 80s but they they came after years of racial tension and unacknowledged grievances.

I spent time reading the coverage but coming late to the story I lacked the sense of an unfolding narrative.  After the action all that was left, alongside the sweeping up, was the analysis and the opportunity for everyone to pontificate on the sorry state of the nation. What an opportunity it was and still is!

If I was depressed by the riots I was also depressed by the quality of the analysis. All it involved was a parading of prejudices and pet hobby horses. Grim, grim reading.

The problem is that it takes time to find out and evaluate the sequence of events and all the circumstances. During that time everybody else has made up their minds. The old saying that a lie can travel around the world before truth has got its boots on is never more apt than in the wake of something like this.

I emerged from my reading feeling tired and confused, at which point I could easily have abandoned the idea of a run and settled for a day of fuzzy minded mooching. But no! we are made of sterner stuff than that.

The run was nothing spectacular - just a standard loop done at at a standard pace. I cannot think of a single event worth recording, except I passed this phone box and saw the empty larger cans. My first thought was “Humph! Welcome back - street drinking and litter it is so much grimier here than in France!”  but my second thought was “Actually as litter goes, that is quite neat”, however my third thought was more interesting “Wow! a phone box, I’ve not noticed that before. How many of them do we still have?” 

My first reaction had been a rather grumpy, huffy, gut reaction but my last thought was about an aspect of social change that could be investigated. Perhaps with the riots - we have to wait for the third thoughts.

2011 Streak Day 222/365 (Aug 10th): Leaving

2011 Streak Day 222/365 (Aug 10^th): Run 2.5 miles, Time 27min  Weather - a clear blue sky and fiery sun bringing in a hot clear day. Perfect weather, except we are leaving.

The run was good and it was impressive to be up and out by 7, given the amount we drunk the night before. 

There was a sadness that this would be the last run of the holiday. Nevermind the holiday this is perfect training country, with empty roads that undulate. Running is fine at home but it feels better here. But all things must end and it is time to be going back. Although I thoroughly enjoy my holidays in the back f my mind I always have the feeling they are an interlude. Although I appreciate the remoteness, being cut off from all news, the feeling that the rest of the world is a million miles away, it does not feel like home.  When all is said and done I still feel part of England. It is the place I understand. 

Morning was spent packing and cleaning then away at mid day. It is a long drive to Caen so we decided to break it up with a visit and picnic at Venise Verte. This was a good idea as it is a lush, relaxed area, full of people idling about on bikes, eating, or punting on the canals. In other words a great holiday area.

There is little to say about the rest of the day. Roads are roads and driving is driving.

We arrive, eat and then board. The photo is of of our last wistful look at France. 

2011 Streak Day 221/365 (Aug 9th): Cognac (not the town)

2011 Streak Day 221/365 (Aug 9^th):Run - 5 miles, Time 47min, Weather - A beautiful morning with a mist rising over the fields

My last solo run of the holiday so I decided to go by the beehives. It was a beautiful morning and as I looked over the fields at the rising mist, I made a point of appreciating the view. This run is only for enjoyment I told myself - just go with how you feel, and if tha means a little rest, then so be it. But funnily enough, having given myself permission to ease back, I didn’t. I trotted along at my standard pace and felt good.

The main activity of the day was a walk along the Charente from Jarnac to Bourg Charente and back, probably about 5 or 6 miles. With the river on one side and woods on the other it was lovely. I do not mind out and back routes because everything looks different when you are facing a different way.

We passed many things of passing interest, like a nursery for vines with thousands of the young plants packed closely together; or two red, classic sports cars, with two silver haired couples pulling out their picnic hampers - the English middle class on a touring holiday; or a Nike trainer floating downstream - for a shoe it made a very fine boat; or the way French fisherment take their lunch far more seriously than their iEnglish counterparts - full picnic with table and cloth as opposed to the grabbed sandwich by the canal bank; or the size of some of the riverside houses and the wealth that has come from cognac.

Talking of cognac today’s picture is of Braastad, a cognac better known in Norway than the UK, probably because it was founded by a Norwegian. As far as the UK market is concerned I would guess there aren’t many brands sold beyond Hennessy, Martell, Courvoisier, and Remy Martin (perhaps also Hine, which can be found in Waitrose and Monnet, which make the Marks and Spencer own label could be added). But there are many more cognacs than that.

We bought our bottles two days before from a small producer with an estate near the village of Bréville (which interestingly has used wood carving to regenerate its fortunes).

Monsieur Boutinet is a grey haired man, probably in his late sixties, with the comfortable shape of a patron. At some point he must have had a throat operation of some sort because of the quality of his hushed, gravelly voice. His wife was a little younger, probably early fifties. She was an artist, who has exhibited in Russia and England as well as France. Her studio was in one of the side buildings and we started the visit with a view. Her main interest was movement and the blurring of space around figures in crowds or people performing athletic (in its broadest sense) activities - meat and drink  for a running blog. But although I could relate to the theme and recognise the skill they weren’t quite to my taste. 

After that it was the main business of the day, a degustation.

A big old barn was laid out with a table, chairs, glasses and array of the different cognacs. We started the tasting with Pineau, both red and white and then went onto the brandy - a VSOP, followed by a Napoleon, then an XO,after which was an Extra followed by a Cigar  (it was a blend of XO and Extra as a complement to an after dinner cigar - not my style at all). Finally we were given a taste of a 60% cognac, which was a very different drink that made the lips feel numb.

It was fascinating to compare the different flavours, make judgements, and notice how the taste became richer and more complex with age.  I won’t go all poncy and try to describe those flavours with exotic analogues - not through any fear of seeming pretentious but because I really can’t do it, I don’t make those associations. On the website, however, there is a wonderful sentence: “Napoléon, XO, and Extra reveal their richness and complexity only after a tender moment of complicity in your hand.”  

I just love the idea of a tender moment of complicity; it perfectly described what is happened here. We had the full attention of the proprietor of an estate which has grown vines for two centuries and willingly drank the idea of tradition augmented by the sense of the old buildings with each sip of the brandy. We wanted to find something special. 

It is not a bad thing and I am still delighted with the complicity and more than happy to have blown the souvenir budget on XO.