What a difference

a day makes....

How two consecutive days could be so different weather wise is anybody's guess... where yesterday we had rain and rain and more rain, today there were blue skies and sunshine.

It was in fact the perfect morning for a run, and how I really wished that was what I was going to do - in fact I even went as far as to say I was almost envious of Fellow Parkunner heading out for an open air swim, but it was a temporary moment of madness and I have had more than enough time to reconsider my position on this! A quick reorganisation of stuff and off I set back to the delight that was Westival, picking Halfmarathongirl up en route - thank you HM! It was definitely better than the day before... yet still somehow soul destroying.

My problem wasn't with the children (I think I coped well remarkably well given my starting point!) but with the whole concept of the activity table.

With the nicer weather the bouncy castle man was there today, as was a face painter (different lady to yesterday) and it was just hard knowing that parents were paying £1.50 for 10 minutes 'bounce' or £2.50 for 10 minutes having their face painted often having queued for the pleasure, whereas we were only able to ask for £1 for what was at times up to half an hour's entertainment (or in a couple of notable cases well over an hour)...

There appeared to be a differing of opinion over what I was there to do, I think the organisers thought I was there to provide crafting activities for as long as anyone wanted to stay or however many times they wanted to come back but only have to pay once. As the only person there (plus two wonderful friends) who was giving up my time for free in an attempt to raise money I'm not sure how they thought this would work, nor why I would have done it. As it was, we worked for way less than the minimum wage and I'm wondering if I would have been better trying to get a job and donate my wages rather than fundraise!

Packing up at the end of the day, chatting with parkunfastfinisher, I thought for a moment that one of my boxes of materials had been stolen from under the table as I couldn't find it anywhere... this was about to be the final straw and I had my 'flounce' already prepared as I was set to confront the organiser and tell her of my fate. Thankfully the memory of leaving said box at home this morning after my reorganisation surfaced in enough time to save me from the embarrassment of making a total fool of myself - but was somewhat indicative of how much my brain had turned to mush in the course of the day!

The bottom line is that we were more successful than we were yesterday, making £39!! Which in case you've forgotten the staggering total of £11 from yesterday means that I'm now £50 nearer my WaterAid target. But it was a hard way to earn it and not something I think I'll be doing again, although I do have rather a lot of painted egg boxes, pompoms and pipe cleaners left over... which is a shame as I don't think they'd have me back! Oh well! You live and learn.

M - 611
HM - 168
Glasgow - 28
Total Distance covered  222.9 miles

PS Thanks also to Al who did a great job of holding the fort at home all weekend, looking after me nicely when I got home, and showing his moral support by coming to see me and supping beer in the rain and sunshine whilst listening to the bands...