Let’s see…. Yesterday morning I took an easy, non-timed run. As it turned out, I walked for significant portions of the two miles; my ankles and knees appreciated the gentler treatment. I didn’t even start the clock; I knew from the start that this would be a semi-rest day. Then coffee and fruit, shower and Morning Prayer, home for coffee and toast and general email catch-up, then began work on my sermon for Sunday (heaven permit that it ends up a fruitful start and I can wrap it up this morning), then Margaret unveiled her spectacular Valentine gift to me, a pen cabinet to hold a hundred of my fountain pens (woot!), lunch, then off to Oxford to shop for Margaret’s Valentine gift*, and from there to the New Testament Seminar for a paper being given by my Oriel colleague Hindy Najman (an exciting paper on tabnith/tupos (some day I have to alter the CSS for this blog to allow Greek and Hebrew type) in the Hebrew Bible and the Letter to the Hebrews, then at the end of the day back to have a Valentine’s dinner at Dorindo’s.
This morning, two miles at what felt like a strong pace (but which turned out to be less than many recent days, deflecting my rolling average to 20:06). A cup of coffee, let the dogs out, I’ll say Morning Prayer in a minute or two, then clean up, make a hot breakfast, and turn to tomorrow’s sermon.
* I had intended for a long time to buy a large quantity of the dark chocolate black tea that she relishes, from Whittard’s. Whittard’s, though, seems to have a distinctive approach to marketing: they regularly, predictably allow their stock of this particular tea to run out, and then profess to be unable to stock it for weeks — all the while they suggest ordering it from the Whittard’s website.
Now, I am no retail shopkeeper. Still, with my only vague apprehension of the elements of High Street retail merchandising, it seems to me that if there’s enough demand for a product that you regularly run out of it… you might order a larger stock, or more regular deliveries, even both. We will order from the main website, with a sigh.
Empty-handed, I stopped at Montezuma’s for choclate, and at Scriptum for a notebook. Happy Valentine’s Day, Margaret, and all who celebrate!