SSSsssssssss...............

I've just got home to see a letter from 14-year old Christiaan on the doormat, who's a bit sad because his pet snake has escaped. This creature is a 'Canadese Kousenbandslang' (this seems to translate from Dutch as a 'Canadian Stocking-bandage Snake'), which looks like this:

In his letter, Christiaan informs us that it is a non-strangling and non-poisonous type of snake. I'm quite happy about this, because the damn thing crawled over my feet in the garden the other day. Christiaan asks that if we happen to spot him, we need to throw a big bucket over him and keep him cool (apparently this calms him down). He doesn't give any tips about how to calm myself down after a bloody-great snake slithers across my bare feet. My advice to Christiaan would be to keep the lid on his snake tank, or just give up and buy a gerbil.

It's the eye of the tiger, It's the thrill of the fight...

Despite the 'wobbly weeble week' I had last week... sleep deprivation, emotional turmoil, blah blah blah.... I succeeded in smashing my personal best time in this year's Dam tot Dam race. I crossed the line at 1 hour, 33 mins and 26 secs, dispelling my own self-created myth that I'm getting too old and creaky for all that nonsense. See if you can spot me at the 10km mark, running along with a silly grin on my face to the tune of 'Eye of the Tiger'.

In the photo I'm almost at the end, close to the finish line with fellow 'girl power' runner Mairead. More photos online here.

The next running challenge is the Amsterdam Half Marathon on the 15th October. I've never run 21km before, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

We Weebles Wobble But We Don't Fall Down

Remember these? I used to love these little guys, and had a set exactly like this when I was a kid.

I'm going through a wobbly weeble-phase at the moment, and am inspired by their resillience.

So it's me and the weebles, still standing!

French Retreat

Montignac le Coq Sept 06 047rotated
Originally uploaded by Lucy Griffith.

Last week I got to bask in some French sunshine during a family holiday. My sister arranged to hire a beautiful farmhouse ('Le Pible') in the tiny village of Montignac le Coq. The house and grounds were fantastic and the perfect place to enjoy a bit of sunshine and tranquility.

It's not often you get to take a dip in your own private pool, then climb out and pick fresh figs from the tree for a post-swim snack, while dripping off in the sunshine.

Little Oscar was there to entertain us all with his new crawling skills and to ride 'elephant style' on his Auntie Lucy's back.

I also got to do some great morning runs through the sunflower fields. The hill-training will be very good preparation for the Dam tot Damloop, which I'm running on Sunday!

Photos are posted here.