Saturday 3 December 2011

Relaxing in Shetland

Despite yesterday's post-run fatigue, I had a lovely time at the departmental Christmas night out.  It was at the Peerie Shop Cafe, which we had all to ourselves.  Chef James Martin put together a fab buffet including tattie soup with reestit mutton (much praised by the non-veggies in the group), smoked mackerel pate and homemade oatcakes, roasted vegetable couscous, parmesan bruschetta, and a roast tomato pie.  There were three choices of dessert, and the tiramisu alone was worth the journey to Shetland.  The company was good too, although I did end up knowing rather more than I ever wanted to about what pregnancy and childbirth do to your body (cheers, C and S for the detailed descriptions!).

The official night out ended at 11.00.  Some of our number were continuing on to one of the local pubs, described by C as the kind of place where you want to wipe your feet after you leave, but I chose to give it a miss and was happily in bed with my Kindle by 11.30 and asleep by midnight. 

There was no running today; instead, I took a chance on the weather (wind at almost 40mph, intermittent driving rain, and very cold) and walked into town in search of Didrikson parkas.  On the way, I was taken aback to see two runners heading towards the harbour, both of them wearing only shorts and T-shirts.  Either they were tourists who didn't have a clue about Shetland weather, or Shetland runners are well hard.

I found the parkas, but none in my size, and by the time I left the shop the rain had returned with a vengeance.  I had no choice but to duck into the Peerie Cake Shop when the rain turned to hail.  Five minutes later, the hail had stopped and I was on my way again, accompanied by a 'Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Chocolate' cupcake. 

What can I say, it's an ill wind...

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