Breaking Out

In the last 24 hours I've experienced both the upside and the downside of having your own business. On the one hand there is no escape, so yesterday meant having to take responsibility and work a 15 hour day. On the other hand, I was able to choose to work from home today and escaped at lunchtime for a short run on the moor, which actually turned into a rather long run - with lots of stops for photography. Today's few hours of freedom made up for a lot of frustration this last few days. The town was enveloped in thick mist all day, but the moors were sitting proud above all that greyness, basking at times in bright sunshine. The difference in temperature was extraordinary.

There is a certain camaraderie on the tops in such weather, everyone I met having a big smile on their face, smug in the satisfaction of having made the effort to get up high, above all the fog. We share a secret, that while everyone down below thinks it's another miserable, cold, grey winter's day, we actually know better. I'm certain that very few people in town today would have suspected that blue skies and a smidgeon of warmth were so close to hand. I don't necessarily want to keep it a secret though. As I was running back home, down through the mist again, I was encouraging everyone I encountered to climb higher.

Loads of shots to choose from, some of which can be seen here (hit slideshow), but I've picked this as a metaphor for my day, taken at the point of breaking out of one world, the grey one of work and stress, into a whole other world, of light and freedom and the sheer wonder of the beauty of this snow-covered landscape. Although in places crampons would have been appropriate to cope with the icy paths, I managed - for once - to avoid any accidents and it was very hard to force myself to come down out of the sun and back into the fog. I feel like I've been a bit naughty today!