I'm not great at estimating stuff. It might be a man thing, but I spectacularly fail in making any outcome match a carefully crafted plan. Estimating the value of something, paint, time, people, trying to get your mates to the pub on the same day at the same time, trying to do the right thing by those who love you, and so on. And so last night, I had a great plan for a run today. I wanted to re-run the route of that Christmas Eve jaunt that killed off my ankle. Putting the daemons to bed, so to speak.
Macc Forest was the intended destination. Then James suggested we do something together, and he seemed up for my plan. But as I lay in bed, I already had doubts. Perhaps there wouldn't be time. James is a man whose timetable is so out of tune with the realities of his own life, you need to be prepared for the inevitable call where he is reminded by Zoe about what he's really doing today. No matter, we planned an alternative trip out to The Edge. I had a good route in mind, a little longer than usual. I always take 'tea' money on a run, if I have company. Perhaps that illustrates my underlying undoing. I have an alternative agenda that even I don't admit. It's fair to say, I'm not always successful in leading my quarry off the trail to the caff, but today it was the other way round. James too, was up for a good run...until we set off.
He'd got a knock, he kept reminding me. I'd already changed the route, then James had other ideas. Half way through that, he changed his mind again after verbalising what I was feeling. 'I'm struggling here mate', he declared. I was relieved to hear that, as I wasn't feeling too hot myself. He then relieved himself, again, and I played my card. He needed no persuading. To the Wizard Tea Shop we went, that being the only part of the plan that came true. Only four miles, but of good running around, great to be outside, lots of chat and an excellent round of tea and cake to continue our discussion about our respective careers. Speaking of which, I was in the Financial Times Magazine today. I'm not sure how that happened, but I got a call, I answered questions, and this is the outcome. It's mostly factual!
