Gosh, I’m Quick Tonight

Disappointingly there’s still very little snow around these parts this morning. I was actually hoping to run to work in the fresh snow but it’s too icy underfoot from the bit we got on Saturday which has now frozen. So I get the bus and hope for a deluge later. I’m the wearing running gear on the bus; everyone else seemed to be wearing duffel coats and wellies. The bus is on time and the roads totally clear. All a bit of a damp squib as usual.

It plays at snowing for most of the day before finally getting the hang of it around 3.30. It looks as if my run through the snow is on after all. Despite slightly bemused looks from my work colleagues I set off on my usual route through Chaddesden, where I sometimes hop on the bus. The conditions are excellent, fresh snow is great to run in, very soft underfoot, not slippery at all.

In Chaddesden, the live bus times say there’s one due in five minutes. I don’t believe it and I carry on to Spondon. Now the boards are saying seven or even eight minutes to the next bus. Somehow I’m out pacing the bus or else it’s stuck somewhere. I carry on to Borrowash, where the signs are now saying ten minutes. Gosh, I’m quick tonight...

Decision time though. Do I wait here or push on the extra couple of miles to Risley. I decide to go on. I just get into Risley and the bus catches me up, so I jump on. Seven and a half miles I reckon. Not bad.

I intended to get off the bus in Bramcote and run the last three to four miles to home but once settled on the bus and kind of snug, I change my mind. I’ve done my stint and stay on the bus all the way home.

The bus driver turns out to be a bit of a psycho. The roads are pretty good really, until he gets on to the bus lane through Bramcote which hasn’t had much traffic on it. It doesn’t stop him doing 40+ on it and you can feel the bus sliding around a bit and there’s no seatbelts on the R4. Well at least he’s having fun. Then a car pulls into the bus lane to turn left and I think if the car doesn’t get around that turn sharpish we’re going to shunt him from the rear... Phew that was close.

An hour or so after getting home I walk the dogs to meet L who is walking back from town. Now it’s not so much fun. The temperature is dropping and the paths are rapidly icing up. Not easy when you’re under collie power either, causes a bit of wheel spin.

(Tuesday 30th November)