Ducks and other interesting things, seven good miles

Having gone West last outing with Paul we decided East today and got as for as Canary Wharf.

I was frozen in the lift to the changing rooms and I was pretty miffed to find my bag contained no running tights or trousers, just shorts, and a distinct lack of gloves. Brrr.

Waited until 3 minutes left to go and then tanked it to the Honour God arch and arrived 27 seconds early and 3 seconds before Paul.

I really enjoyed today's run. The snow and ice kept us slow enough to chat and the cold forced us to go fast enough to keep warm.

As the number of London running days counts down to zero I'm all eyes and soaking up the buildings, views, parks, wildlife and culture on the runs.

There were several architectural oddities and highlights including the weird riverside buildings and curved bridges.

I like the statue of the giant duck and the dockside rope circle with knot. Very trendy.

On the flora and fauna side there were ducks everywhere and Paul's inability to shift the stubborn ducks on the small section of non-iced up footpath was amusing. Those ducks must have been out for a curry last night, or just could not be bothered moving in the cold after they'd performed. Yuck.

Any water not moving was frozen. Even some of the basins connected to the Thames were half frozen. The wildlife highlight was a the red brick canal where the water was completely frozen, with little bird footprints on the snow on the ice and there in the middle - three swans fast asleep on the ice. What a picture to find in the city, amazing stuff.

It was 3.5 slow miles to the turn and to liven things up we went as fast as possible on any non-ice sections which for some mad reason we felt compelled to add a manly cry to each sprint.

Came back on even more of Paul's mystery tours so he can show me as much of the East as possible before I go. Appreciating all this immensely.

Longer on the way back, and we accelerated as the temperature dropped and the grit became more effective as we got closer to the city proper. Waved to the Gerkin several times and wandered if Simon has found a shower yet.

To my delight the steam room is now fixed so I got to defrost in there while stretching out and then enjoyed some well earned spicy carrot and lentil soup, fish and chips, rounded of with the last of my chocolate milk. Yum.