Running in the Cold

Over the past few days here in London, it’s really been cold, dismal and dreary. Winter has made a sudden return, so it seems. Out came the jumpers and the sweaters, and I’ve had to turn on the heater again. The BBC weather pages predict a high of only 14 degrees tomorrow. Of course, all this is temporary, and by the end of the week, we’ll be seeing temperatures around 20 Celsius again. Yet I’m rather enjoying this spell of cooler weather, although it makes waking up very difficult indeed.

With the last of the pre-exam essays completed, I felt I needed to get out today for a good, long run. But instead of heading up yet again to Regent’s Park, I thought I’d turn eastwards and southwards this time through some uncharted territory near the City of London. My route took me down Gray’s Inn Road and then a left on High Holborn, followed by a jaunt along Fetter Lane and Fleet Street. Before long, we passed St Paul’s Cathedral and found ourselves on Cornhill, where the Royal Exchange was sited, before ending at the famous Erotic Gherkin - the striking Swiss Re building on 30 St Mary Axe and now a firm icon on the London skyline.

I’ve seen the Gherkin from afar many times, but this was the first I came right up to the building. It’s a bit smaller than I imagined, yet very impressive and very pretty – its distinctive colours and contours reflected brilliantly on the glass paneling of adjacent tower blocks. With the brooding and bleak clouds of the morning having given way to bright blue skies, it seemed like a perfect quiet Sunday to be out enjoying the lovely life to be had in London.