Freezing among the floppy fringes

I can't remember the last time I watched the Boat Race on TV but as it was on at the weekend and we live near the Thames, we thought we'd go along and watch it 'in the flesh'.

It was bitterly cold and the rain was horizontal at points, and we didn't have a clue about the timings involved, so by the time we'd waited on the river bank for over an hour, I was feeling less convinced by the brightness of this idea. However, a warming (and hideously expensive) plastic glass of red wine helped, and it was very amusing to be in a throng of the poshest people I've come across since spending 4 years studying at Edinburgh Uni (single biggest feeder school - Harrow). Particularly charming to overhear one girl say to another "oh I wouldn't do your job, it doesn't pay nearly enough". Lovely!

The boats themselves were pretty damn fast, I must say, and I'm quite impressed at how they manage to row for 20 odd minutes (1 minute at the gym exhausts me!).

As I'm on my marathon training 'taper' at the moment (very little running and lots of pasta eating, in advance of Sunday's race), we were free to go to the pub afterwards. Managed to get home in time for my weekly dose of ER...

Sunday was running time (but only a relatively short one) and er, yes, you guessed it, the pub again. The evening ended with an unfortunate incident involving someone having too much to drink (not me!), hot candle wax and my new shirt - sigh. Some work with an iron and brown paper is in order.

Picture is of Cambridge warming up.