I have lots of sports related news, I will start with the least exciting. I won 2 tickets to Wimbledon second Wednesday, which should be mens quarter finals day. I am taking Jo Hayles, who is changing her flight home from Bangladesh especially. General sport news - I played tennis badly with R on Sunday, and then quite well with Sarah on Monday, despite being hampered by having to use Adam's racquet which was produced in the 1980s. I did ok with it. It was my birthday on Saturday, and I had a great run in the mud/wind/rain with Sarah G. Despite being a fabulous runner, Sarah does not like mud etc, so my choice of route which involved getting lost twice in West Wood ( near Weston Shore) was not her thing at all. I had another marvellously muddy run on my own yesterday around Botley and Manor Farm. the weather was so hot I wished I had gone for shorts, and wished for sun glasses too. I hardly saw a soul and most of my route was just me, the fields and the river Hamble, looking stunning in the sunshine. I not looking so stunning in the sunshine, as a bike fall, week skiing and week post skiiing recovery mean I am not match fit for running, so back to it with determination as have a 10k coming up on March 27. I have done 2 swims the last few days, having bought some replacement goggles in a sports shop in Winchester, which was the lunch date choice of my family for my birthday. Winchester, not the sports shop.

We went to Buddies diner, and then the girls wanted to buy me a teapot and a dress. Buying a dress is not my favourite thing to do, I am not a great shopper at the best of times, let alone with two eager girls wanting me to buy something suitable for Strictly. I ended up in a heap in Jigsaw, and was attended to by a lovely assistant who got me to try on a pretty dress which I bought without looking at the price tag!

Tea pot was easier, nice shop called Dingles or similar near the cathedral, I asked if I could try before I bought and they brought me a jug of boiling water to pour. I also bought a groovy set of colourful plastic kitchen bowls and utensils. While in a shopping mood, on Monday I bought a car! Not entirely on my own, well, I saw it and I NEVER look at cars, in fact had driven/rode past this garage a million times and never seen there was a garage there. I texted R to tell him price and mileage as I thought it sounded reasonable. He texted back that he had noticed the same car yesterday, but not told me as we were not looking to buy a car and I glaze over if he talks about cars. So. We bought it. Getting it on Friday. It is not a Capri, which we would like but which is not pratical for a shooting and fishing lifestyle such as ours. no, the other end of the practicality spectrum, a Volvo. Now all we need is a dog.

Nice day at the office today, a long parents evening but they are all pleased with their children's progress and so am I. We are studying Monet in art and the children are all really keen on Monet pictures, we are doing a colour wash tomorrow, last week we mixed yellow and blue powder paint to - wait for it - make green! It was a revelation to some of them.

Other birthday news - we went to see Chicago, starring Marti Pellow, at the Mayflower in the evening. What a show! It was awesome - the musicians are on stage and are fab, the singing was great, the dancing amazing - it was a real WOW and totally worth going to. I know R and I are suckers for a good musical, but really, this was something else. I loved everything about it and had a fabulous evening on a lovely day, with lots of treats and suprises from lovely friends and family.

I have been selected to be on the Cycling Plus Magazine team of the year. They take on 4 cyclists at different levels of their training, and give you a bike, team wear, gadgets, and entry to any cycling events of your choice. In return, you write a weekly blog and get the odd photo taken for the magazine. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!! At last my blogging talent will be recognised by the national press, before long I will be an Olympic medal holder in the pursuit or the pelaton, I will go up and down AlpeDHuez without batting an eyelid. At present, my cycling plans are for a tri on 16 May and a jolly round the Isle of Wight in June with two of my NCT mates, Rachel and Vicky. Bradley Wiggins, Lance Armstrong, move over, coming through!