Well, despite losing an hour of sleep and the weather being a little variable, I hope you've had a good Easter weekend.
I was glad to be up early in the morning on Saturday when I was the cox for a men's four on the river here in Suffolk. The water was mirror calm, the tide low and we only had wading birds for company. It was very special.
Although I should have made the most of the spring sunshine for the rest of the day, the Boat Race was taking place in the afternoon so I spent a good couple of hours in front of the television.
I very much enjoy the BBC's coverage each year as Clare Balding and her team take us along the route, introduce us to the phenomenal athletes, invite comments from the marvellous Katherine Grainger and also, this year, reference 'Lessons in Chemistry' - the bestseller by Bonnie Garmus where rowing is a key theme and my novel of the year for 2023!
The women's and men's races were both very exciting and not without incident and I couldn't help but feel for both the winning and losing teams as they dealt with the outcomes of the competition. My reading of a book by Simon Mundie, just a couple of days earlier, made me consider their situation even more keenly.
With any sport, the focus is on strategy, tactics and the result. And with our lives we can put a great deal of store in how high we have risen up the ranks at work, or how well regarded we are by our community or our peers.
Simon Mundie suggests we should measure success differently. Yes, we should explore our potential and delight in 'getting in the flow', but true contentment might lie elsewhere, and might just be more attainable than we have realised. It's a fascinating book!
Thank you for reading.