It was my attempt to train for a marathon in 2007 that half-destroyed my left knee: so I don’t run any more. The Wainwright walks are my compensation, so I don’t regret this, most of the time. But seeing an organised event like ‘Alice’s Run’ (named after a teenager whose premature death inspired the event) does give me occasional pangs of nostalgia and I admire the fitness and dedication of the people who do it.
One of the nice things about Joe is that he will engage very well with adults, having no problem at all with social situations. It makes it much easier to also be ourselves when among friends, to relax after the efforts of the week just gone, and not have to constantly be looking out for him. (That’s orange juice he’s drinking, in case you were wondering.)
So far there are no other people in these photos. To me places are more interesting when they are quiet. I like being first one in the gym in the morning, but don’t think I do it because I am particularly keen: more the case is that if I don’t do it first thing, I don’t do it. And I need to do it.
I remember that on the very first day I moved into my house I walked up through the woods to the point at which they thinned out into fields and bramble patches. I looked at the scenery and thought, bloody hell, I live somewhere. This is a place. The environment round here can still do that.
Today I gave myself a break from work by going out and looking for blackberries. It’s been a cold, grey day and I didn’t find much fruit, but I did see these plants, and while I’m not botanist enough to identify them properly, this was the one point today at which the sun shone and it still felt like there was a vestige of summer in the air.
I like my house. I wouldn’t have been here more than 10 years, otherwise. Although it’s on a main road, and bits of it have a tendency to fall off now and again, I like the fact that it’s not some identikit Barratt Homes bollocks. I like the way the sun shines into the attic in the morning and turns it golden. I like that I can work here and not have to trug into Manchester every day. There will be many days over the next year where the defining feature is that I spent most of the time here. But I hope that will never be a problem, as it has not been for the last decade.
Being 42 