New Normal 113

Another rainy morning, a chill in the humid air, but the rain was filtering out some of the pollen, and I worked my way back to a time of 9:39. Morning Office, fruit breakfast, and I finished the b… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

New Normal 112

This morning dawned with heavy rain, 15° but low pollen, and I thought to bluster through the rain for a full run, but after about a half mile I changed my mind. Morning Office, grocery trip, hot b… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

Day 111, New Style

This morning was lovely — 10°, high humidity, high pollen, but clear and bracing. Since I had run hard yesterday morning, I resolved to go slowly today; as it turned out, I ran very slowly indeed, … | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

O Uncertain New World, Day 110

The weather this morning was fine, my knees limbered up satisfactorily, and I took a mid-mile break to take a photo for Margaret, all with the result that my time broke the nine-minute barrier. Tha… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

Back To Church (For Some), Day 109

The pre-dawn morning was dank and gusty (though certainly warm enough); the air was misty, high pollen, and my knees were stiff from yesterday’s prolonged walk. I quickly discerned that I wasn’t go… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

Super Spreader Saturday, 108

The morning weather was a bit wetter, a bit warmer, notably breezier, and much less limber (that last it was my legs, not the weather), so my run was significantly slower — 9:53. Grocery trip, Morn… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

Between the First and Second Waves, Day 107

Usual this-week’s weather: 12°, humid, high pollen, and a usual this-week mile of 9:18. I felt good, with stable strength and breathing. Morning Office, fruit breakfast, finished reading Neuromance… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

Same New Normal, Day 106

Another cool, grey, humid morning — 12°, high humidity but only medium pollen, and I felt good and limber, and my mile came in at 9:16. Morning Office, fruit breakfast, and I spent much of the day … | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

The Same Normal, But Different, Day 105

The weather was a bit chilly, 14° and very humid, high pollen count, and I felt a bit creaky and old, so I didn’t start the timer and simply ran my mile, which was fine. Then to Tesco for our Wedne… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

A New World 104

Same conditions as yesterday, practically the same result — a 9:27 mile. I’m feeling less agreeable to running again; it’s a nuisance, and the lack of evident progress demotivates me. Morning Offic… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

NN Hundred and Three

No offers of cigarettes this morning — indeed, I didn’t see anybody at all. The temperature was 12°, high (but not ‘very high’) pollen, moderately high humidity, breezy, but still a somewhat sluggi… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

NN Hundred and Two

This morning was almost chilly, 11°, though still with high humidity and high pollen count. While I was still warming up, a kind-hearted (perhaps still drunken) woman offered me a fag, on the impre… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

NN One-Oh-One

I started my morning run during a break in a drizzly dawn, but by the time I was well into my warm-up, the drizzle turned toward rain and the rain became steady, so I cut the mile short and returne… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

A Century Of Isolation

A century of days, that is. This morning began at 18°, full humidity and ultra pollen, and although I felt better than yesterday physically (knees fine, back fine) I opted not to try to push for sp… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

NNNinety-NNNine

The morning temperature was 17°, and the rest was as it has been — calm, clear, very humid, and the air dense with pollen. My knees were a bit stiff, my back felt twitchy, and I thought it the bett… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

NNNinety-Eight

The morning climate was fine: clear, temperate (15°), calm, but distinctly humid and continuing with very high pollen. It felt a bit as though I were running and breathing in treacle. The mile came… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

New Normal, Ninety-Seven

Another lovely, clear summer day — 12°, high humidity, very high pollen count, and no breezes, my mile in 9:34. Morning Office, fruit breakfast, and settling in to spend as much of the day reading … | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

New Normal, Ninety-Six

Today dawned clear, cool, calm, high humidity and with an extremely high pollen count. My legs felt leaden, and I didn’t push; I got home in 9:45. I’ve commented before on how unpredictable my time… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

New Normal, Day Ninety-Four

11°, very high pollen, 98% humidity, sluggish legs and challenging breathing, 9:32. Morning Office, separate trips to Tesco and Sainsbury’s (masked and compliant with distancing rules), hot breakfa… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

New Normal, Ninety-Five

It was raining heavily when I woke up this morning, so I was inclined to write off my morning mile. Morning Office, and some work on Legends. At about eight o’clock, though, the rain had paused lon… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

New Normal, Day Ninety-Three

A chilly 13° and wet, very high pollen and 99.9% humidity. I managed to stomp my way to a 9:27 mile, but I felt sluggish the whole way. Morning Office, fruit breakfast, some internet distractions, … | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

1989 in [Music] Culture

A couple of online interventions lately have turned my thoughts to one of my favourite schemes, namely a journal that published reviews of books, music, films, and so on from a set interval in retr… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

Toward a New Normal, Day Ninety-Two

Chilly rain this morning, so no run — I’m a creature of routine, but I’m not mad. Morning Office, fruit breakfast, and all day hammering away at Legends till late afternoon, the Office of Readings … | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID World, Day Ninety-One

13°, 99% humidity, very high pollen. What’s the difference between running in high humidity and swimming? When you’re swimming, the water will always be cooling you off as you go. The mile was an u… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID 90

13°, very high pollen, high humidity, a bit of a slow start at limbering up my knees and thighs, for a mile time of 9:56. Morning Office, fruit breakfast, and a morning devoted to Legends — with Ab… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID World, Day Eighty-Nine

Another cool, clear, calm start for the day, with 98% humidity and very high pollen levels. My legs felt heavy, and breathing was laboured; I came in at 9:49 on a day without any muscle strain. I’l… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID World, Day Eighty-Eight

Cool, just the right temperature for exercising (about 12°), calm, clear, and very high pollen — so that my morning mile was encumbered by streams running down the back of my throat. I made it home… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID World, Day Eighty-Seven

Another grey, mild, misty post-rain morning: very high pollen, and high humidity, but no pain in my adductors, and a somewhat gasp-y 9:20. Morning Office, weekend morning grocery trip, and today I … | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID World, Day Eighty-Six

Mild dawn weather at 14°, high pollen, high humidity, and while I didn’t push hard, I wanted to attain a more usual time — which I did, at a 9:21 mile. Fruit breakfast, Morning Office, and the rest… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID World, Day Eighty-Five

Moderate cool weather (11°), fresh after pre-dawn rain, medium pollen, high humidity, and my adductors thanked me for letting them settle back to normal. I didn’t push, but I did run gently, and br… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID Eighty-Four

The conditions for running were fine this morning, apart from high humidity and pollen: about 11°, calm, cool enough to keep you from overheating, warm enough that my extremities weren’t getting nu… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID World, Day Eighty-Three

Clear morning, cool temps (around 10°), very high pollen count, and my groin strain was sensitive yesterday, so I opted not to time this morning’s run, but rather to take it slow, with short steps,… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID World, Day Eighty-Two

Another 8° chilly morning, high humidity, high pollen, and my left adductor is giving me serious grief. Still and all managed a 9:33 morning mile. Morning Office, fruit breakfast (well, to be hones… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID 81

This morning’s run encountered medium pollen, 9° temps, sore adductors (I think; I’m not much of an anatomist), but I still pared back the mile to 9:23. Morning Office, hot breakfast, Sunday Servic… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID Eighty

I underdressed for what turns out to have been a chilly start for the day, around 7°. Pollen medium, high humidity, some breezes, but I pulled my time back to 9:37. Groceries at Tesco, but they don… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

Sacraments and Repulsion

Church people often quote the familiar slogan that a sacrament is ‘an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace’, which is true enough as far as it goes. But there’s more to be said… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID World, Seventy-Nine

Cool weather (11°), medium pollen, light breezes, but sometime in the past couple of days I overstretched my thigh muscles and I couldn’t pick up my pace at all; my mile timed only 10:00, the slowe… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID Seventy-Eight

I slept late this morning — ten to six, huzzah! — but that meant that the streets were actually almost busy when I took my morning run. The grey skies and breezes made the temperature feel chillier… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID Seventy-Seven

Back to my usual schedule: up early for my run (14°, high pollen, heavy unwilling legs, time of 9:22), quick shower and then for the first time in eleven weeks, I set off for Tesco! We had been goi… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

Back to COVID World, Day Seventy-Six

I think it’s seventy-six. Some zombie files rose from their fitful slumbers to knock the blog offline for a week. Apart from the obvious immolation of the United States and the less obvious risks o… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

Against the Plague

Herewith I deposit my liturgical pamphlet for A Prayer for Aid Against the Plague (Remedium contra Pestem) and the accompanying Plague Cross. | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID-19, 70

On this first day of our tenth week of isolation, temperature 13°, high pollen count, everything went smoothly, but my time came in at 9:18. I’m not griping, and it may well be that the pollen made… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID, Seventy Less One

If you’re reading this as life happens, at the same time (-ish) that I’m blogging, there’s no need to say how odd this interval of undifferentiated days can be. Today was in many respects just like… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

Chilly morning 7°, muscles okay, clear weather, 9:07. Morning Office, fruit breakast, Legends and some reading, then National Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. I spent the afterno… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID, Day Sixty-Seven

The temperature had cooled to 11° this morning, and although I felt all right while warming up, I decided early on to take this mile slow and easy. I finished in 9:52, which would have been a marve… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID 19, 66

This morning turns up the warmest of the year — 16° at daybreak running time — though breezy and oddly cool to the skin, medium pollen. My legs felt heavy, but the mile passed in 9:07, much to my s… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID, Retirement Age

The morning was grey and overcast, the temperature supposedly 16° (though I’d never have believed it), breezy, with occasional light drizzle. I pushed hard early, and my thighs suggested that I mig… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago

COVID Eight²

This morning’s weather seemed so promising that I ran sans hoodie for the first time this summer. The temperature was 11°, the skies held light clouds, low pollen, and my limbs signalled cooperatio… | Continue reading


@akma.disseminary.org | 5 years ago