Birthday....

This last weekend saw a veil of mist hamper my riding plans - the murky greyness on Saturday seemed uninviting and I decided on a short ten miler just to stretch my legs. On Friday Gary and I met at our usual spot and enjoyed some fine autumn sun, at least for a while. It was warm and relatively calm as we wound our way around Market Bosworth, the trees are mostly bare now and the fields are barren. The verges have a carpet of rust and faded gold, the last warm colours of the year before the monochrome of winter

We have escaped any sign of frost so far this year. How different then to last year, when by this time we had already suffered with heavy snowfall. By mid November this year I have cycled more miles than I managed for the whole of last November.

My eldest daughter celebrated her 21st birthday last week. It all seems unreal to me - suddenly she is 21 - and so quickly the years have passed. I put together a collection of home-movies for her; as i worked on the task, which I did in real time, I was taken back to all the key moments: bathing her, her christening, first birthday, Christmases, Nativity plays, sports days, holidays, horse riding etc etc - I greedily soaked up the memories, all compiled onto a series of DVD discs wrapped in ribbon. It made me smile but also brought a tear to my eye. She came round for a birthday supper and we sang happy birthday around a cake with 21 candles. I recorded it, it seemed the perfect thing to do.