When I bought myself a motorbike about five years ago I somehow imagined that the person who got onto it would be the same person as got off the previous one 29 years earlier. Not so - the older version of me was much less confident and since then it's travelled shamefully low distances between MOT tests.

For the last three weeks it's been the only sensible way to get to a weekly meeting in a village outside Oxford and this morning, instead of fearing my ride, I found I was looking forward to it. Hurrah! Now I can contemplate going longer distances.

This afternoon my neighbour and I set out on a walk under the forecast cloud and soon overheated in the unexpected sun. We had a good time chatting and seeing all the pale green leaves emerging - I love this time of year - but I came back with aching feet to add to my aching post-Monday's-weeding hamstrings.

More exercise needed.