Hygge, gemütlichkeit and a wet day in November

The path that leads to my bike...and a soggy commute in prospect

12.11.2014
Day 212

The rain hammering down at 6am is enough to abort a half-formed plan to run the seven miles into work. In any case, running with one's day clothes in a rucksack is irritating. So a bit of core work in the warm and dry, followed by porridge and a splash through the sodden garden to the bikeshed.

My son and his pregnant girlfriend are over from Berlin. I am practising my Deutsch and thinking about lovely words like gemütlichkeit, as well as that adored Danish almost equivalent, hygge (the feeling you get when looking at cold, dark outdoors from the roaring-fire warmed cabin) The weather has taken a turn for the worse, it's soggy and windy, and the beginnings of a cold made me almost decide to leave the bike, and myself, at home. The days when indoors feels cosy and inviting, when you wonder about when you'll light the first fire of the season, are fast approaching. I suppose I'm thinking about such comfortable things because I'm beginning to worry about the cross country season. My first race (having missed the October meet) is on 22 November and I am so slow at the moment. Hibernation is not going to help this situation. Ten days to toughen up and face the muddy music, which means running my usual week's quota (Parkrun, LongRun, Intervals, Tempo, Hills, Easy Recovery), except for the next four days I am expected to be apron clad, wooden spoon wielding Mama, raising glasses to my grandchild in utero and lovingly welcoming the wider family into the hygge bosom of my home. Does not compute.