Something rather odd happened today. I was out at 7 this morning for my
pre-work energiser. The standard short route — 3.5 miles. Felt good
all day, and even worked late. Arrived home, looking forward to my
Marks & Spencer’s Chicken & Bacon layer salad and an
evening in front of the Champions League, but blow me, when I heard the
product of the Wednesday evening bellringers’ practice reverberating
across the village, I found myself changing into my running kit and
getting back out there for a testing 5.2 miles around the pitch-black,
drizzley lanes.
I can’t explain it. I’m not sure if it’s happened before. But anyway,
it’s made me feel extremely holy, and that’s nothing to do with the
earlier, joyous tintinnabulation.
It also means I can watch the dregs of day one of the first Ashes test
tomorrow morning without guilt. Whether I’ll watch it with pleasure is
a moot point. There was some astringent correspondence on the forum
regarding my pessimism. Except I see it as realism rather than
pessimism. Mercifully, I’m not a cricket nut, so I don’t have any great
emotional investment in the outcome of the series. If England manage a
win I’ll be really pleased of course, but if we lose, as seems likely,
I doubt I’ll feel any great pain. But I’ll watch when I can, in the
hope of glimpsing some drama.
That said, I fancy a draw in the first match, and at 9/2, a reasonable
bet I think. I should have had more than a tenner on QPR to win in
Cardiff last Friday, but anyway, it means I have £40 that
doesn’t really belong to me burning a hole in my pocket, so it’s now
piled up on a draw in the first. If I lose, that’s the end of my Ashes
betting career.
May the best team draw.
