Goodwill balance in the black - for now

When I said I'd written off December in that last post I didn't seriously think I'd do nothing else of any value for the whole month but that's pretty much what's happened.

Apart from a solitary (and rather uncomfortable and dispiriting) visit to the gym two days ago I've done nothing to maintain fitness, let alone improve it. And I've done plenty to reduce it, as symbolised by Grandma Caunt's most excellent home-made jam tarts, pictured above, consumed by the plateful on our Christmas visit to Sheffield. So 2 January really is going to be square one.

The weather has made it very hard - after the snow we had compacted ice and sludge for several days, followed by icy rain for what seemed like weeks on end - but it would have been relatively easy to go to the gym more and there's always the turbo trainer... But having decided that January marked the official starting point for both training and fund-raising it just felt beyond me to exert myself before then.

There's another factor too: when I'm training three or four times a week - even more as the ride approaches - my absence is going to be very noticeable. This ride is going to ask a lot of my wife Rachael thanks to the childcare implications of dad going AWOL so often and she didn't ask for this extra burden. So being visibly around for a while isn't such a bad idea at the moment.

I suppose you could say I'm building up a feeble positive balance in the goodwill bank before I go woefully overdrawn for a few months.