Artful Day

An early start today. I had the Parkrun 5km at Cramond starting at 9:30am. Just pedalling there was hard work! It was blowing a hoolie, the rain started and it wasn't the most pleasant ride.

I had 20 mins to warm up and that was perfect. Just before starting, I bumped into Scott 'Bonkers' Balfour, an old friend and Rosemary's coach. The guy is a legendary Ironman....Unfortunately, I lost him in the starting melee despite him being a great pair of heels to follow. His pacing is always impeccable... and despite me having a Ph.D. related to pacing, mine isn't. Saying that, my first 1km was spot on what I'd planned. Unfortunately, my plan was over ambitious, and each subsequent km got slower. 22min 19 sec in the wind seemed reasonable for my current fitness but I want to go under 20 mins in the NY.

After getting back to R's, we headed up to the National Portrait Gallery. The Blip image isn't in the gallery but the Canomills tunnel! I like nude still life all the same....a touch of Titian colouration, don't you think? The gallery was brilliant and I particularly liked some of the Indian photographs. I could have stayed all day, but alas, we only had time for 4 of the 11 rooms.

A quick stop off in Real Foods. Despite being a veggie, I was ready to eat my own arm. Mrs Unis saved me with a very spicy samosa followed by a pain aux raisin, également appelé l'escargot! We also had a brief stop of at Artisan but this is the 2nd espresso that has disappointed this week! The one I had at Kilimanjaro (Square Mile Red Brick) knocked its socks off!