The start of the year

I spent a very pleasant few days with Claudia in her weekend cottage in Luckenwalde over the new year period. Berlin can be a wild place at this time of year and we prefered to enjoy the peace and quiet of the countryside to the constant din of fireworks spread over several days that Berlin usually offers.

This year we had heaps of snow. I went for a run through the woods on January 1st in six inches of snow, which was very hard work, comparable Iin my opinion to running over sand dunes. The following day we had another six inches of snow and I haven't been running since. Even Berlin, to which I returned yesterday, is covered by a considerable coating of snow and ice. Tomorrow I'm off to Dhanakosa in Scotland for a meeting of European Buddhist centre Chairs. We'll see if the weather is any better there. When I return in a week's time, training for the Berlin half marathon on March 28th begins in earnest.