We have a routine here, if Mr JCR is cycling he goes out early, leaving me to wallow in peace under the duvet, and we don’t bother with breakfast. If we are together in the morning (that sounds slightly suspect doesn’t it?), then invariably we go to our local cafe.
Here, you always get service with a smile, our pastries are put to one side for when we arrive, and no words are spoken as our order is brought directly to the table. All of which is glorious, except for one thing. Just occasionally, we may fancy a change. Nothing drastic you understand, maybe not the same pastry or perhaps a single macchiato not a double. Not mind-blowingly different, but we’ve reached that stage where it is almost impossible for us to change the order, because they’d be upset if we did. They pride themselves on doing this little courtesy not just for us, but for many of their clients – including the 4 ladies that our friend G has dubbed ‘Sex and The City’ – they are about 75+!
And we’ve changed our routine a lot these past few days. With our good friends G&J staying with us, we have been dining and wining well but not wisely, and as a consequence, breakfast has been a more relaxed, much later and an at-home affair. Yesterday, we were at the cafe saying goodbye – the four of us were joined by another 2 mutual friends. the whole concept of the saved orders went out of the window, as we all did slightly different things than they were used to seeing. Today, we had an appointment at home so didn’t go. You see we are messing the cafe staff around, but they remain courteous and helpful and as friendly as ever, evidenced by my ‘smiley’ cappuccino. And that’s a change too, there’s a new young Hoxton Hipsterish barista on duty – coffee art is obviously his thing, as I’ve never had that before.
A change is as good as a rest they say, and I decided I’d run this afternoon for a change. The weather was warm and sultry this morning, so I waited until after lunch, mmm we have a very grey sky and I can hear rolls of thunder. This isn’t looking good. Okay at 4.30 I decide the weather is sounding threatening, but probably unlikely to do much, so I pop out for a quick run.
Hadn’t really thought much about my route, but for a short run, there aren’t too many changes I can make. I trot up Mill Lane, growl at the water pumping station and make my way to Lovers’ Lane and towards Villa Bali. As usual, there’s a a school trip there, which means I have to endure the inevitable cat-calls, or kids copying me run, or racing me. But today is the day of change – the teachers are out on the lawn too. Not one cat-call, mickey take or fake running occurs. Down the hill that kills and I run into the slope of hope, no-one’s about, it is very quiet and I feel the pitter patter of rain on my face. That’s fine, a small shower I can cope with and make my way to Laundry Lane. It is like running in an old Western movie, no-one is around, no noise, save for a few birds tweeting. I half expected to see tumbleweed careering down the road in front of me. I had in mind a quick 5k, but then realised if I did that, I’d be a little short of my 800km mark, and so I continued on to a point where the run back would get me over the line. On my way back I spotted the changed Citroen 2CV. To be frank this is more a car I’d expect to see in Hoxton than sleepy Le Marche. But maybe times are a changing and Le Marche is getting hip?
I ever so slightly miscalculated my route distance – I saw a road warning for the junction at the end of Laundry Lane (my planned finish point) saying it was 150m away, and I thought that would be enough – a quick check on Map My Run and it wasn’t. Hence a change of direction, I turned full 180 degrees and started running back where I came from, alongside a set of garages. Because I didn’t want to go back a long way I ended up scooting up and down the same bit of road a few times. Luckily, the unusually quiet afternoon meant no-one saw the batty Englishwoman running up and down the same 10 metre stretch.
And it’s all change tomorrow, we are back in London for a few days, me to pound the streets of our fair Capital City and Mr JCR to do an M25 inspired ride around London.
I changed my playlist today too…, this is my Spotify list for MummyCav on C25K, as she had a crap run yesterday. MummyCav this run was for you…
Playlist
Helena -My Chemical Romance
Poison Ivy – The Lambrettas
Respect – Aretha
Shake It Off – Taylor Swift
Girls Just Want To Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
Kayleigh – Marillion
Layla – Derek & The Dominoes
Ophelia – The Band
Dear Prudence – Siouxsie and The Banshees
Queen of Clubs – KC And The Sunshine Band
Roxanne – The Police
Teresa – Eddie Cochran
Uma Thurman – Fall Out Boy
St Xenia – Katina
Oh Yoko – John Lennon
Zoe Jane – Staind
Stats
Distance 7.33km
Time 50:34
Average Pace 6:53
Elevation Gain 74 metres
Alzheimer’s Challenge
Kms run 800.89
Kms to do 1217.11
