After waiting for delivery men all day and messing about with computers I finally got out running just after 6.30pm. There was a strongish SW wind so I thought I'd head 5 miles up the Water of Leith then turn around for a brisk 10 miler. What I hadn't taken into account was that it was Friday evening and that it was soon to be getting dark. It was an added incentive to pick up the pace as I realised that it was dark under the trees and was going to be even darker on the way back.
And yet it was nicely atmospheric. The sky was a warm purple colour and the lights of the streets and houses glinted through the trees and were reflected in the river.
I started to see odd characters, strolling along in the dark. At one point I had slowed for some time because I couldn't see the ground at all and then was stuck behind two people walking side by side. "Excuse me" I said and a tall thin man with a long nose and a soft Cockney accent said "Forgive me my lamb!" He seemed to be wearing long thin over-size shoes which pressed momentarily into the side of my leg as I passed. "I'd trip you into the river as soon as look at you" I imagined him saying as I picked up the pace again sightless or no.
Under the Dean Bridge and down into Stockbridge the trees were creaking and branches touched my face as I passed. It was pretty much total darkness now so I had to take it easy even though I didn't want to.
All in all quite a good race...a race with the dark! Might do it again.
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