The Heat Is On: absolutely freying

I toyed with the title of this post. Perhaps
"hot in the city - some idle thoughts"
or how about
"browned off - running on empty"
Yesterday was a shocker: 42C and 33C while I was running after 8am. Not one other runner in sight, most people were indoors and I was wondering why I hadn't got up at 4am, run and gone back to bed with the air on.

BB senior is staying with us for a few days, a kind of pause in his peripatetic peregrinations from Sunshine Coast to Melbourne return. Another family wedding was the original impetus; the directly-related Buffetts have managed eight weddings amongst the three of them. The general consensus is that this has led to the development of enviable relationship skills, fast twitch reflexes and a seasoned grip on finances. Other, more caustic family members suggest a lack of application and weak moral fibre. Cads.

Running continues to improve, with 159k covered in 17 outings, including last week's SMC where I covered the 5k in 25:06, slower than last time but with a negative split which bodes well. And the last k in 4:40. I am finding that I am about 10% slower in times per run than pre-November, but am able to run comfortably at that pace, around 5:40/k.

Next week's calendar, pleasingly, shows five days annual leave, so it's movies, swimming and return to school for YD. Oh, and start marketing Chez BB/ex-Mrs BB's house at Bella Vista. Now don't be shy: if you feel $779k is too little to pay for a place of such obvious merit, note that we have not set an upper ceiling on offers.

The new CR singlet and car stickers arrived. One sticker is on my car; Mrs BB suggested other places to locate her planned car sticker, and mate Joestat will be the lucky recipient of the third.

For any 70's/80's music tragics, I received my eBay-won LP of Animalympics by Graham Gouldman. Now to burn to CD. I just wish I hadn't thrown out my own LP about 15 years ago, assuming it would appear on CD. It hasn't yet.

Books? Yes, currently I'm reading Laurence Bergreen's fascinating biography "Marco Polo: from Venice To Xanadu". Great book, but no mention anywhere of Olivia Newton John, Gene Kelly or Jeff Lynn. An obvious gap in knowledge.

This week in politics had many chuckle-duck moments, but I must give the award to Tony Abbott, who provides a wonderful definition of true courage under fire, both in his own words and, because of his own words, through them about himself. Meanwhile, the Young Libs want to link Uni Graduation to National Service. With these two examples of progressive, quantum-leap thinking, we can understand why Truffles Turnbull is standing proud. Plod on.

diligentia maximum etiam mediocris ingeni subsidium

"Exit, stage left"