Morning Run, Evening Drive

I went out for my first 'morning' run today. At least the first time this year that I've been out before breakfast. Instead of just thinking "I'll go out in a minute" and then delaying it or even putting it off completely, I seized the moment and got out before I thought too much about it or started to get embroiled in work.

It was a gorgeous morning - the coolness at the start of the day (OK, the sun had been up for a couple of hours already) but it was the start for me. Clear and almost cloudless with very few people out except for the sheep with their lambs and the cows.

I saw a whitethroat on the way back, which is a summer visitor. Not having been up there for a few days they may have been here for a while. It's always interesting to see what birds are around when I go out for my runs, especially when you see the first swallows of the summer skimming over the dewpond or the skylarks singing from somewhere high above you or even a wheatear or fieldfare.

To top it all off, I was up at a meeting in Horsham this evening. It was a glorious summer evening so I had the top down on my car. There's nothing to lift the spirits like a convertible - sun on your face, wind in your hair and so much nicer than being enclosed in a metal box. As I drove back the large red ball of the sun was setting just as an almost full moon was rising. There was a hot-air balloon drifting low over the trees as it came in to land and the real bonus of having the top down is that you get to smell the blossom as you drive past or the sweet smell of the grass wet with evening dew.

I might have been slightly chilly by the time I got home but it was well worth it. Why have a soft-top if you don't make the most of it.

Nothing like it - far better than pills, potions or therapy.