A Portobello Sunrise

Up at 5am to head down to the 20 odd mile mark in the Edinburgh Moonwalk to give a boost to a couple of friends walking it as they headed into the last 6 miles. Bacon rolls and tea supplied; even some chocolate brownies made. Got a text to say they had finished in 8 hours 11 minutes.

Our own wee walk of the day was more modest, along the river from Hailes Castle to East Linton (where we found everywhere we'd considered for lunch either closed or rammed) and back again, before a lounge in the sun in the garden.

It's really not much to report is it? But hey, it's been a good day. And in honour of that I'm going to try and give you seven days of 'simple pleasures', rather than rants (though England playing Slovenia on Wednesday might make that difficult...).

Today's simple pleasure - seeing things full. Sound odd? I remember growing up and when the car was running out of petrol, with money tight, a fiver's worth would be splashed in. It doesn't really save anything, you've got to put the same amount in, so really it just means you have to go to the filling station more regularly. As a kid I never realised the fuel gauge went past 1/4...

And so to this day there's a little frisson of contentment whenever I see the fuel gauge completely full; or the camera battery fully charged; or a pint glass filled up to the line. That last one may be a little obvious. It might seem a strange thing to bring a smile to a face, but this series really is about the little touches, the unusual things, those details which can brighten up even just a moment in the day. And the more of these simple pleasures you have in the back of your mind the more chance you have of at least once every day being at peace.

Which is just as well recently.

Anyway, let's see how many people agree with the pleasures listed, or how many just think I've gone off my head. And how many want the rants back...

p.s. time to start repaying those who have continued to comment without me commenting in return - with the last issue of citycycling online (as reported yesterday) I'm seeing time stretch out before me...

Other options:

Hailes Castle Swallow
Mel in the Window
Moonwalking