Skip to main content

Oxford May Mornings


An early start this Saturday morning, the memory still fresh from a superlative bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin Dom Maume, 2006 last night. A glorious nectar of a wine, all sweet strawberries and warm delicate fruits. Nothing heavy here, slipping down perfectly with a pasta dish. The 2006 vintage is indeed charming, and the premier cru wines will be even better I am sure...
Into Romsey for chores, and the refreshing urgent sense of a town in the crisp pale sunlight. It may be a bit of a cliche about fresh mornings, but like all cliches, they are true for a good reason! So, lots done and home by 10am, with a smug sense of getting ahead of the general populus!
Then off to Oxford, where I am sitting at present in the Eagle and Child on St. Giles, supping a delightful pint of Brakspears. I am a bit early for an old School event in Chipping Norton, and so thought I would pass an hour in the Clarendon Street area, because you are just outside the centre of Oxford, and so can park outside, usually, for an hour, and that makes it a perfect pit stop. There are a couple of lovely shops, including one called Central, full of gorgeous designery things..all fearfully expensive though. Anyway, back to the beer - this pub is a classic old English pub, so naturally it is full of tourists and the staff are Irish and Eastern European, but the beer is at least well kept. And, I am sneaking a wifi connection from the cafe next door, which is hanging on by two bars.
Running tomorrow I hope, perhaps 9 or 10 miles, no more than that until I am certain that my little piriformus problem has gone away..a tiny muscle in the left buttock (!) that causes the leg to rotate outwards slightly, and just this little bit off 'true' is enough to set up all sorts of pains down the leg. I am now four weeks after London - the recommended waiting time - an as expected, I am just starting to want to set a new goal, and get a bit 'twitchy' for running. I shall give it a couple more weeks and then I will be eager, for sure.
Pip pip!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Miles 34.7; Units 28

A week is a long time in running, if I may use the political catchphrase. This week started with a slippery drive to circuits, then on Tuesday having to turn back on the motorway from a drive to Sheffield, and a treadmill intervals session on Wednesday to keep safe in the icy conditions. Saturday was a gloomy and wet run, though by Sunday it was shorts and t-shirt for the long run, in the balmy conditions of 8 degrees! The Long Run, by the way, was partly down the Test Way, where you run along the old railway branch line, now a track for runners and walkers. Some lucky people bought the old station at Horsebridge and have turned it into their home, and a wedding venue. A real touch of 'Oh Mr. Porter!'. A week of trying hard and not quite succeeding, alas, with all of the runs just failing to hit the mark. Not sure why. The Romsey 5 is next weekend, and I have just not got the quality sessions in I'd like to have done. It will be an endurance battle.. Wine of this week (stil...

miles 20.64; Bike Miles 0; Units probably too many!

A couple of runs this week, Tuesday and Sunday, the latter a great long run - just over 14 miles - really feeling back in the swing of things, and ready to book some races now. It was just glorious to be out in the cool but sunny weather - absolute joy! I am finally feeling like I am able to run again. It has also been a bit more of a relaxed week at work, with a couple of days on a training course, and the rest of the time in the office. Also, the throat was gently easing out by the weekend ( I did promise not to go on about it).... ....which is good when I tell you that we went to Hotel Terravina again, this time as a gift for my 40th Birthday from Carol and Huw, to take part in a 'sabrage' event, which means that you chop the top off a bottle of champagne with a sabre! All very extravagant and grand - see me brandishing said bottle in the attached photo. What a great experience that was, really very special. Thanks to C&H for that! Other than the Champagne we also had tw...

Lovely wines in Hong Kong

Have just arrived in Hong Kong for a brief stay. Dined last night at Felix, on top of the Peninsula. Most enjoyable! Four lovely wines - Cape Mentelle Chardonnay 2010, a really delicate, lightly oaked wine, Chablis her Cru Leflaive 2006, crisp, lean, racy and with some age on it, and Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella - a beast of a wine! And to finish, Ch. Guiraud 1998, delicate, ripe, some botrytis. Life is clearly not like this every day. But it's good when it is like this a bit!