Flurries

First, the joint winners of Friday's caption competition are Pippilongstock with "He never smiles like that at me anymore" and Friedaquilter with "Why a pigeon, why not me?", which both, for me, capture the poignancy of the scene. I'm very drawn to these shots that pose questions about the engagement of the people involved. I suspect that this was actually a very tender moment and I feel a little bit guilty about poking fun. I got the feeling that the man with the pigeons was quite lonely and the woman is possibly showing some sympathy. She might well be lonely too.

Second, you lot are positively reckless when it comes to advice - with one exception (thank you Rainie!) who showed a bit of common sense. Every time I confirmed for myself the wise decision not to run someone would tell me that I should and I'd be swayed the other way. In the end the wisdom of experience won over. I think my subconscious was trying to tell me something when I set the alarm last night for 7.30 pm rather than 7.30 am! I've learned to listen to that inner voice. It meant that I slept in late this morning, not waking up until after nine, and with a general achiness in the body, a fuzziness in the head and a bit of a sniffle. I'm not really capable of running half throttle so despite all your encouragement the decision was made for me not to race.

I've always been far more of a participant than an observer when it comes to fell racing, so I decided the best thing to do was to get away from Ilkley. If I'd watched the race I know I would have regretted my decision or even been tempted to take part at the last minute. I went for a gentle ride on the bike instead and I think that was a good idea. I had no strength in the legs at all but I do feel better for the exercise. The plan is now to try to get back into a daily routine and increase the effort levels in a steady progression. I've convinced myself that a quantum leap in the fell race today would not have been a great idea.

Finally, a word about "Chasing Ice", the film I saw with Roam in Bradford last night. It's only got a limited showing so I was little worried that we hadn't booked tickets in advance, but I needn't have been concerned. There were only six of us in the cinema, which was sad because this film was utterly incredible viewing. It's best if I point you at the web site rather than write about it, just suffice to say that it is about photographer James Balog and his mission to capture visually the shrinking of the glaciers in Greenland, Iceland and Alaska. His dedication to his art and his mission is fantastically inspiring and the resulting photographs both exquisitely beautiful and breathtakingly dramatic. The final sequence of a glacier calving in Greenland is the most awesome footage of the natural world that I have ever seen. It's showing in selected places all over the UK over the coming months (see here). I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This shot was taken near Cracoe as it started to snow a little. There were flurries of both snow and gulls around this hill. My hands froze getting this shot (and a few others) and never really warmed up again. I still feel a bit washed out tonight but better in spirit if not necessarily in body for having made some kind of effort today.