Today has been a good day despite some bad news. The bad news is that my daughter's father-in-law, Will, is in hospital undergoing tests on his heart etc after suffering severe arm and shoulder pains while holidaying in Scotland. He went to a Glasgow hospital twice and staff there determined there was nothing wrong. Luckily, Will decided not to take their word for it, cut short his holiday and took the first available plane back to Melbourne, Australia.

On arrival he again suffered severe pain and was taken to Melbourne's major hospital by ambulance where he is undergoing stress tests, angiograms and MRIs. There is a possibility he will need stents...or maybe even a bypass of sorts.

The good news is that the weather has improved and I have been able to walk outdoors for the past two days without having to worry about rain, hail, sleet and snow flurries!

It feels good walking with the sun on my back. I recall returning home from hospital in March, 2010, and after a couple of days rest, being able to sit in our sunny courtyard. It felt marvellous, and it never fails to amaze me how much I now enjoy the simple things in life......like the warm sun in my back in winter.

Today we are Melbourne helping our daughter to pack up as she is moving house in the next few days. And I have just returned from walking to Chadstone (round trip of about 1km), where I had had a new battery put in my watch, and where I also popped into two of my favourite shops - Kathmandu and Mountain Designs - and checked out their sale items. Why, I don't know as I have enough warm weather gear and I am no longer able to use tents, sleeping bags and rucksacks etc. .... but I still like looking.