Walking the Dog

I set no alarms and allowed my body to rest as long as it wanted, which seemed to be exactly eight hours. I woke at 8am (what luxury) but felt as if I was coming out of a much longer hibernation. Despite the good weather and the understanding that it was forecast to deteriorate quickly, I couldn't stir myself from bed for a full hour and failed miserably to get out until the rain duly arrived. It's still been ridiculously mild but the strong winds have certainly made it feel autumnal today.

I set out for a run but soon discovered that my legs were in bits from yesterday. I think I'd run harder than I realised in order to catch that bus. I decided to cut my losses and kept the route very short, just long enough indeed to grab a couple of photographs. Today always had to be about work anyway. There were things that needed to be sorted before start of play tomorrow and those have been duly ticked off - although, as usual, much later in the day than I had hoped.

I skyped with my brother Darren in the States last night. His life has been rather preoccupied with the new addition to his family, baby Ian, who arrived into the world 10 weeks ago. It's the first time we've caught up since we skyped from the hospital. Everyone is doing really well and Jake, now two and half years old, is completely adorable. Darren mentioned that he thought he could see me in the postures he adopts. I thought nothing of it at first but on reflection, recalling photographs of myself as a child, I can possibly see what he means. That's quite a sweet notion. Mind you, Darren also mentioned graceful, a word I doubt has ever been used to refer to me!

I've got a total of five nieces and now two nephews. I've been a terrible failure as an uncle so far, not helped by the large distances involved in trying to keep in touch. I hope I can be a little more present in the lives of these two boys than I have been with the girls. Skype certainly helps, although we joke that when I get to meet Jake in person I will have to hold a frame around my head in order that he'll recognise me!