Never long enough

At 14 minutes to midnight last night I pulled up at a pub car park in a remote Kent village to collect my brother from a night run. As an elite ultra runner he regularly goes on training runs ahead of big races.

Last night was a marathon distance night run from Bluebell Hill near Maidstone to Wye village. He ran the last 25 miles of the North Downs Way 100 mile ultra that he'll enter for the third consecutive year in two weeks' time. He ran it on target at just under four hours' across the hilly trail route.

Traffic congestion and road closure due to operation stack made my journey from Sussex back to Kent all the more challenging. I'd been commentating at an air show all afternoon and was pretty tired from being in the sun and 4.5 hours travelling.

We made it back to my cottage in record time as the roads had finally cleared and we then spent the next three hours chatting, cooking and eating. My family is full of shift workers and with a career working at events I'm used to odd hours so if it meant catching up with my lil' bro at midnight to 3am then so be it!

We had long lie-ins today followed by a leisurely brunch in the garden before checking out the 82-mile point at the Lenham Cross war memorial before reuniting my bro with his car at Bluebell Hill viewpoint where this photo was taken.

Possible plans to head up to Duxford to watch a friend renew their Display Authorisation were cancelled today, due to my brother's visit, but when I heard 21knot winds had meant him postponing his trip I was quietly pleased in the hope that I can join him next time - it's one of my favourite aerodromes and I haven't been for a while. It seems there are not enough hours in the day to catch up with my friends and family at the moment, a constant frustration.

I am making the most of the precious time I do get to spend with the people that mean the most to me but perhaps it makes us appreciate our time together even more when it's not as often as we would like.

(This is my 200th Blip)!