How fragile we are

We're snowed in! Brighton and Hove has become a winter wonderland, a sparkling playground for children of all ages...or an icy deathtrap, depending on your point of view and your age - or your job I suppose.

The kids have been deliberately falling over at every opportunity, charging around without a care in the world, their little eyes alight with innocent pleasure. We on the other hand, have been tutting at the council's apparent reluctance to grit any road that isn't a motorway, and at the idiocy of anyone driving at more than 15mph. We've also been falling over.

Two evenings ago we were on our way to some friends for what promised to be a boozy pre-Christmas get-together and decided it would be irresponsible to get there any way other than on foot, not only because we wanted to keep as many cars off the road as possible, but also because we wanted the kids to be knackered so we could have a good time without worrying about keeping them entertained for hours - far easier to wear them out beforehand and let them slump, exhausted in the corner while we caroused with our mates.

So the thinking was definitely sound, but we didn't take into account just how slippery it would be. We were making our way carefully down Terminus Road near Brighton station when we hit a patch of glassy ice on a steep corner. I got there first and could tell I was going to fall over several seconds before I actually did. Both legs went from under me and there followed a seemingly endless spell of frantic flapping, involuntary exclamations and wild-eyed terror before my back hit the unforgiving pavement. I was wearing a rucksack that contained two bottles of wine and my camera's flash unit. My first thought was that I'd broken my back, my second was that I'd broken the bottles and that shards of deadly bottle glass were now working their way into my lungs, and my third was that I'd smashed my £150 flash unit. I think I had the thoughts in roughly the appropriate order.

Luckily none of my nightmare scenarios unfolded - I was merely winded. But it could so easily have been worse. I have a history of lower back issues and it did cross my mind when signing up for this ride that I could be tempting fate a bit by committing to such a stern physical test, but I signed up anyway, determined not to be restricted by something that's thankfully not had a huge part to play in my life for several years now (I'm touching wood furiously as I write).

That could have been it though. The big dream of the coming six months could have been up in smoke just like that, before I'd even got started properly. I wonder how many people plan things like this and never get to do them because of silly accidents like the one I had the other day. Pointless dwelling on it really I suppose.

In other news, I've pretty much given up on the training for December. Thanks to the weather and hangovers and seasonal illnesses and festive tendencies I've not been out on my bike or into the gym for nearly a week now. I'm drinking almost every day too, not to mention eating far too much. So when the new regime kicks in on 1 January (well, 2 January actually - we have a tradition of going to the pub on new year's day to toast the night before and the year ahead) it's really going to feel like starting from scratch. But that's okay - it would feel a bit odd if it wasn't like that really.