Spring.....

      Replacing my ancient Nokia PAYG cellphone (that cost me all of £10 a year to run) with the latest state

Spring lambs....

of the art Moto G was probably not a good idea. I love the look of my new toy, and I like the feel of it, but when it it comes down to more practical matters, such as actually using it, I'm pretty clueless. It has a mind of its own and its little electronic chip performs considerably faster than my much bigger brain. And it does things I don't want it to do - like downloading a few thousand pictures from Picasa and clogging up most of its storage space. I spent a mainly sleepless night figuring out how to get rid of them.  After successfully solving that problem I decided it might be a good idea to dispense with many of the old 9,000+ pictures stored in Picasa, my picture editing programme, to free up space on my computer hard drive. Unfortunately, I found out rather belatedly that deleting pictures from Picasa also deleted pictures from my blog - including a page wide banner at the top and the little Runningfox above my profile. My blog was in tatters with an awful lot of empty spaces. But, surprise surprise, those latter two pictures and one or two others turned up once more in the bowels of my new iphone so I was able to replace them. I spent an awful lot of time repairing the damage but afraid I ran out of patience so many previous postings will be permanently without pictures. Lesson learnt.....

Spring smile - at the Stone Man....

     In the meantime Spring has sprung. Snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils have brought gardens back to life. Curlews are calling again up on the moor, lapwings are performing their crazy aerial dances over prospective nest sites, frogs are spawning noisily in scattered ponds, new born lambs are suckling their mums in sunny pastures, coltsfoot and celandines are flowering in the ghyll and a mistle thrush in the top branches of an elm couldn't contain his joy.  For the first time in weeks we've slept with the bedroom window open to be awakened by pre-dawn birdsong, a skein of geese bugling across the moonlit sky and a cock pheasant calling from a garden up the lane. A good start to the day.  And for the first time in Britain this year I've been running in shorts, though it was a little chilly at 1,500ft by the Stone Man on Grassington Moor where my wonderful partner was still togged up for the north pole. Either way, it felt good to be there, breathing that reviving uncontaminated air.
      Our lonely 7½ mile run on Saturday was followed by a 6½ mile jaunt around Fewston and

Spring in my step - at Fewston reservoir.....

Swinsty reservoirs on Sunday where, by contrast, the world and his wife were out to enjoy the blossoming Spring. The parking lot was full to capacity so we'd to wait until someone drove away and vacated a space. Runners were out in force, some more serious ones doing two laps of the 6½ mile circuit. Whole families with children, prams and dogs strolled leisurely around, enjoying the warm sunshine, while mountain bikers drove far too fast and were a bit of a menace on the narrow path. We made mental notes never to run there again at weekends!  Runningwise, that was my week, just two runs and fourteen miles/1,560ft ascent. Better than nothing, I suppose......