w.atching the w.orld unw.ind

I’ve now been back to work a week today, having returned from the beautiful Greek island of Crete (during which time the Olympic flame was driven through our village – quite exciting)

So although I’m still looking unseasonally healthy (i.e. tanned) I’m nonetheless a bit peeved that I’ve yet to see a reasonable burst of British sun, whether during the working day or when eventually get home in the evening.

But reading Fiennes’ excellently-researched (and brutally honest) account of Scott’s expeditions - and the diary extracts interspersed throughout - I’m in awe of the appalling weather conditions they experienced – albeit of their own volition.

It must have galled Scott to belatedly become aware that he was actually and unwittingly in a race to the South Pole, against the duplicitous Amundsen.

Then to find he’d arrived second must have further (dis)coloured his achievement, which was still a remarkable one, despite the fatalities.

So I’m going to stop moaning about the weather and enjoy what gets sent..