All winter long, I walked across the park.
I was working on a deal, and it seemed that every week I’d be in London for a meeting, somewhere. In busy winter weeks at work, it’s hard to run, and so I try to walk instead.
And where better to walk than across Hyde Park ? At 350 acres, it’s one of the largest central urban parks in the world, and perhaps the most famous. Nearly every park, in nearly every other city, owes something to Hyde Park.
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Posted in 2007, history, life and times, London, winter
A Channel 4 documentary to be broadcast in the UK this Thursday evening and entitled The Great Global Warming Swindle argues that global warming is real, but that it is caused by entirely natural cyclicity in solar insolation.
Predictably this sensationalist claim has already been seized upon by the media. It will doubtless be interpreted by many as proof of the hoary old chestnut that ‘the scientists are divided’ on global warming. Those same people will find easy and equally inaccurate confirmation that there is no need to muzzle their gas-guzzling SUVs or to take the slightest care of our energy resources.
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Posted in 2007, environment, global warming, science
Shut your eyes and think of somewhere
Somewhere cold and caked in snow
Snow Patrol – May 2006
All of winter, and all in one day.
It’s mid-morning on a snowy Thursday, but as troublesome journeys to work might go, I really can’t complain.
Guildford’s white and black night is far behind me, and just a few hours later the snow is screaming past the train as we speed towards Oslo at 200 km/h. No Norwegian dogsled ever made such progress.
Arriving early at my meeting, I’ve a moment to survey the scene.
From the office window, the muffled view stretches out silently into the distance, Oslo peering shyly back at me through the white mist of intermittent wintry showers.
The view down to the railway tracks offers a camera angle perfect for any latterday remake of Anna Karenina, the architecture of this place even more impressive for the white curtain draping all around it.
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Posted in 2007, A1 - the best of roads of stone, heroes, music, Scandinavia, winter
It was a perfect winter’s morning as I headed across the hills from Guildford towards Newlands Corner yesterday. The weather was just perfect for running, even if the combination of sun on frosted Chalk downland proved a tricky one.
The cinematographer duly went for a purler, very shortly after filming this clip. Fortunately, both plodder and camera emerged unscathed, if distinctly muddier.
Related articles:
58. Running in the North Downs
112. Forests of fire and iron – Surrey Hills 1
83. Seven Bridges Road – the Wey floodplain
113. The Pilgrim’s Progress – Surrey Hills 2
123. Bridge on the River Wey
Posted in 2007, Guildford, Surrey and Sussex, winter
Is it possible to fall in love with a whole country, with her people and landscapes and lifestyle, and to do that again every single time you visit?
Yes, it is. Si.
I know that an account of a mere running race can’t possibly begin to explain it. Or even pictures of a city, her mountains, a desert and sky.
But that’s what I’m going to try to do. And I know it’ll take me a while.
So for now, until I’m complete, here it all is, in music. Hasta que puedo volver.
Play: Otro día más sin verte — Jon Secada
Related articles:
90. Iberian chains – Tierras del Cid, Spain
91. Madrid me mata
78. Spanish stroll: Almería Half Marathon
129. Tenerife – 1: the light at the end of the world
136. En directo – Medio Maratón de Almería 2007
Posted in 2007, life and times, music, Spain
A picture is worth a thousand words, and movie footage … well, maybe more.
It’s a thrill to complete a major international race, even in the heart of the pack.
There’s just no experience quite like it – the patter of trainers on tarmac, the companionship of fellow-runners, the roars of the crowd, and the ghastly rasping sounds which form the soundtrack to my own near-terminal efforts.
So here it is – Roads in southern Spain, and en route to a 1:59:57 half marathon.
Spanish steps – La Rambla de Almería: the ascent for glory (advisory – this film features poor Spanish grammar, right from the start)
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