Welcome along to my monthly dose of positivity and some attempts to raise a smile in those who manage to read. This one’s a little bit later than I’d planned, but it’s been a busy April so far! So, getting back to the business of positivity, what made me smile in March?
England’s Coastal Path. I was interested to read about the opening – by the king no less – of England’s coastal path, a continuous trail around our coastline. Named the King Charles III England Coastal Path, the trail is 2689 miles long and basically lets us walk every step of England’s coast. Much of it was open already, but the new trail brings with it lots of upgrades. And England’s coastline is well worth a look. Closer to me there are some beautiful areas around North Yorkshire, but also around where I grew up in the North East there are vast swathes of Northumberland coastal beauty just waiting to be explored and enjoyed. As I approach retirement, this is something that I fully intend to make great use of while I’m still young enough!
The Monteverde Conservation Area and Cloud Forest. Speaking of retirement, I keep seeing places I’d like to visit when I eventually finish with work. The latest came while watching a programme with my Year 10 group as a reward for their hard work. It featured the Monteverde Conservation Area in Costa Rica, established in 1972 and since then dedicated to 26,000 acres of woodlands and rainforests containing 2500 plant species, 100 types of mammal and 400 bird species. I could go on and on about it, but suffice to say, it looks utterly beautiful and decidedly special. Hopefully Mrs C is open to a long haul trip once we’re done with working!
The Classic Car. It’s always been a vague dream of mine to own a classic car. I say vague because really, I know it won’t happen. I love the look of certain classic cars, but couldn’t cope with the upkeep and the worry about things going wrong! Still though, a story about a classic car caught my eye and made me smile last month. This was the tale of Cathleen Hourie who had always dreamed of owning an Austin 3 Litre, having been introduced to them by her first ever boyfriend. So when she spotted one for sale she was over the moon. But then she found out that it was in New Zealand and she lived in Orkney! However, it turned out that the seller was willing to ship the car to her in order to help make her dream come true. Dutchman Hans Computer duly brought the car to the Netherlands and then towed it from there to Cathleen who said, “I’ve been grinning ever since Hans arrived!” Isn’t it lovely when others go out of their way to help people out?
The Wakefield 10k. My latest 10k race was a familiar one. I’ve done the Wakefield 10k for the last three years now and I really enjoy it. There’s always lots of people out watching the runners and cheering us on and the route is both challenging and enjoyable. This year was actually my slowest time, but I still had fun. The weather was pretty much perfect for running – little wind, just warm enough and dry – making the conditions exactly what I would have wanted. It’s just a shame my legs didn’t quite get the message! I wrote a full blog about my experience on the link below, if you fancy a read.
The World’s Fastest…Pea Pod? No, you read that right. This was the story of Vicky Knight, who took part in the Cambridge Half Marathon dressed as a pea pod. She was part of a group who ran as a human salad bowl selection if that makes it any more palatable. Of course, there is such a thing as a world record time for a woman completing a half marathon dressed as a vegetable and when Vicky completed the Cambridge course in 1 hour and 21 minutes, she comfortably beat the previous record of 1 hour 46 minutes (I don’t know what the vegetable was for this one though!). All that remains is for Guinness to verify it, but this was a world record that couldn’t fail to make me smile!
And there we have it. Five more reasons to turn that frown upside down. Hopefully there was something there that brightened your day a little bit at least!
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