Augurs well that ends well

The phrase 'it augurs well' comes from the Roman augurs who predicted things. They told the future by watching the flight of birds (amongst other things) and so this phrase and the word eagle are linked in their origin.

So there's me having a run around Ickworth National Trust grounds in Suffolk and having to make a decision. There was a shorter 6km route or a longer 11km route and I was approaching the junction at which I'd have to make the call.

Fortunately a little egret (a white bird like a small heron) was on hand (on wing) at the junction to clearly point me left by flying and facing that way. Remembering my Romans I did as advised but did actually say out loud that I'd hold him responsible if he'd led me to boggy fiendishness.

It chose the longer route, the eejit egret.

All this is amusing if not entirely rational though there are sound principles at work here. Running experts will tell you that you can break up a hill or a long slog by distracting yourself. Checking clever timing devices, aiming for a certain point, speeding up, all take your mind off the breathlessness and joint throb. I'd used my augur for that purpose.

Faced with cold water, you have to jump in

Faced with cold water, you just have to jump in.

Minus 4 degrees on your day off, you must go out for a run.

Right?

I sort of have to*. It’s a dangerous mindset but I think I’ve worked out why it is.

Even if it is unpleasant

There is more to it, I think, than the endorphins of exercise, than the heightened sense appreciation of nature, than the snug feeling of being warm and dry afterwards.

I think it is the romantics who are to blame. 

The romantic movement wasn’t about being pious or even being pleasant. The music broke convention as did the lifestyles of the poets.

The point was to try things even if they were unpleasant. Have the full range of experiences, don’t just play safe.

Life wasn’t about being good or happy it was about experiencing as much as possible. Love and lose, write the pop song.

Silas Tomkin Cumberbatch?

My Christmas Eve dip in a Scottish loch is tipping a hat to Bryon swimming the Hellespont and joining in obscure Greek wars. It is Coleridge joining in the French Revolution under the name Silas Tomkin Cumberbatch.

* Sort of