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miles 7.02; Bike Miles 0; Units a fair few..

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Not the greatest week for running, as you can see by the paltry total above! The start of the week took me to Lille, via Eurostar. (see the photo of Euro Lille, a concrete 'homage' to Le Corbusier..not the most compelling sight as you alight from the train..) So, I had to forego Monday's circuits, and arrived weary and late in the city. I think I must have picked up a bug on the Tuesday, and, after being very tired on my return home, the first inklings of a tight throat emerged - followed by two days of feeling really lousy! Alas, as can often be the case, those two days were extremely busy at work, so it was only really on Friday that I allowed myself a chance to be a bit ill and give in to 'man flu'. Our weekend guests also had to cancel, as they were rough as well, so to be honest the whole weekend was compromised by the snuffles - and worst of all, you are not really up to tasting any great wines! However you will be pleased to hear that I battled valiantly on, not wishing to let you, dear reader, down! I went out for a run on Saturday, claiming to myself that I was feeling a bit better. This of course was totally incorrect, and after about 3 miles the reality of my condition kicked in, so I cut short my long run and headed for home, humbled and crumbling.

Sunday had the delights and guilty pleasure of watching a black and white film in the middle of the day - the choice this time was one that I had not seen, so I thought 'why not now?', Alan Sillitoe's 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner', which is actually a pretty bleak film, all northern grit and Tough of the Track stuff. A rare glimpse of a young John Thaw, testing out some of his drama school accents! Men in tweed suits, smoking pipes and using phrases such as 'now look here laddie'. I don;t think I heard 'you've got me bang to rights, guv'nor' but you get the picture. Also the universal usage of the black plimsoll as running footwear - none of your ahar+ SPEVA foam-soled stability Asics shoes and vests made from wicking materials here, don't you know. This is running in the raw not the namby-pamby stuff that passes for it nowadays (or so they would say I imagine..).

No cycling this week either - I sure wasn't going to cycle to work and back feeling that rough! (is this turning into a bit of an 'illcast' blog? Note to self - stop.). So, my bicycle looks forlornly at me from the cold dark garage, and reproaches me.

I'd pulled out some interesting wines for the weekend, and the lack of guests was not going to get in the way of drinking some of them. One which particularly sticks in the mind is Nuits St Georges 1er cru Vaucrains 2002 by Chauvenet from the Wine Society 2002 en primeur campaign several years ago now (about £30 a bottle then, goodness knows what it would be now). It was a particularly rich and silky Burgundy from an excellent vintage. By now the 2002's are just about coming round, with plenty of raspberry flavours, a touch of sweetness, hints of cinnamon and coconut, good length of flavour, and just really well balanced. Definitely stylish and complete, and showing the charm of the vintage.

Here endeth feeling sorry for myself...

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