Forget annus horribilus, I am having monthous monstrous, and it is only the 9th. My back yard is an absolute quagmire; the lawn has been chewed to oblivion by a small excavator pushing earth back into the trenches dug to assist the removal of my fence (at huge cost).The weather is delaying the completion of the work and the property is not secure, mostly for the dogs.

Yesterday Penny failed to exude her charm on a random terrier and ended up with a small rip in her side for her trouble. This morning the small rip looked more like a gaping wound exuding a worrying smell so it was off to the vet. How can they charge so much for a stitch up? Now  she is a sad creature, disoriented with the bucket on her head, and wondering why a) I left her at that place when she made it clear she did not want to go in b) why I won’t take the bucket off her head.

Generally it’s been that sort of day – nothing really going right like fixing a tube on my mountain bike only for it to be flatter than the earth twenty minutes later. Actually I found out yesterday that you should set a treadmill to a 1.5% minumum gradient to reflect the curvature of the earth which is never flat; but my tube certainly was, and I had to start again.

Later in the day I wrestled with having a swim but just could not be bothered. However later I did decide to go for a run because I have noticed on my online fitness journal that there is a ticker for the number of days exercised in a row and I was up to 47 so how hard would it be to get to 100??  Therefore my notions of a day off went out the window at approximately 6.30pm.

I also hoped  the run would clear my mind of my anxieties and in my mind’s eye, as I ran, I wordled my worries away and it worked!

The relief was short lived as a new anxiety asserted itself. Half way through my run I found myself in the dark on a trail – the combination of poor eyesight, an uneven surface, a dodgy achilles and a penchant for falling over did not bode well for me but I persevered and made it home to devour the spare ribs, marinated in honey and citrus overlaid with plum and ginger sauce, put on before I left and enjoyed them with a beer. I forwent the vegies I was going to cook on my return and had fresh pineapple and yogurt instead. The absence of health ticks was replaced by extra taste applause.