금요일, 5월 28, 2004
the sweet smell of roses in the air -- good, hearty country air; that's the way to go. not.

today i woke up early to say hello to the sun, then met renu to go running. the first time i've run at a semi-competitive pace, nay even set foot and run on a proper track in a couple of months. anyway, the leg stretch this morning was liberating, that and the fact that there was an interesting smell in the air -- one that i found out later to be pure, unadulterated manure.

yep, i forgot that the manure heaps do indeed come out around this time of year, and today just happened to be our... lucky day, that there were to be glorious whiffs of it all along the length of the river as we know it. that didn't put us off the running though, we persisted and i managed to make it back in one piece. my, how things have changed since last time. in the past it used to be 4k down pat, now -- it's just a bit of a sorry state of affairs.

i borrowed books today. all 9 of them. the library system works as such that i managed to busy myself with only one side of the library and get more books than my hands could carry for my perusal. apparently up to 14 can be borrowed. i am currently immersed in a medieval whodunnit featuring the benedictine version of p.g. wodehouse's jeeves, or agatha christie's hercule poirot -- the ever witty, clever (and incredibly welsh) brother caedfal. finally, i have something to do to pass my non-going out days (and trust me, they will be many in number).

in other news, yesterday was the much-awaited shopping trip to newcastle! seriously, there is none more rejuvenating than some serious retail therapy. i begin to wonder if i might be addicted. grrr... now that wouldn't be nice. now all i need is to get ready for next week -- the current void that i have to fill with reading and all that stuff.