Thank you present for wild swimming gardeners

As a thank you for all their hard work in my back garden over the past year, I have given Paddy and Caitlin a canvas of the photo that I took of them in the sea on Christmas Day (as chosen by the BBC for its selection of Pictures of Scotland on 1st January 2021). I handed the present over to them when Caitlin dropped Paddy off for boys' beer night here, in person, for the first time in ages, this evening. As I type this I can hear outside laughter from Paddy, Mr hazelh, Keith, and Richard.

This morning I met my friend Frances for a walk around Holyrood, retracing in part one of the the routes that we used to run together on a regular basis. We would see each other a lot when we were in the same running club, but now only meet infrequently. We agreed this morning that we need to make more of an effort to get together even though our running careers are probably over.

I took some more exercise this afternoon when Mr hazelh and I cycled to B&Q at Fort Kinnaird. This was mainly to buy paint for the bird table that Mr hazelh is currently constructing for me. 70% of the route was by cycle path, so it was (mostly) a nice ride.

Just as we returned from B&Q, Katharine and Jack appeared at our door with a 'spare' peony for our back garden. We were really pleased when they agreed to stay for a cup of tea in the yarden.

Exercise today: walking (22,656 steps); 12 mile bike ride.