Pine cones and Metro maps

I`ve awarded myself the Order of the Pine Cone this morning. My morning runs are still slow, and short, but I`m getting there. And instead of leaping over the carpet of cones in my path today, I picked one up. OK, a bit like a trophy. I`d made it to the end of my village without the use of a defibrillator. And I threw it in a basket full of the little beauties when I got home.

Most are from a twenty footer in the garden, which started life as your standard festive, fairylit affair. On the 13th day of Christmas...my true love said to me...`fetch a shovel,love; this might take root`.

Anyway, we planted it; and it`s now massive. It rains a few cones down from time to time to show how well it`s doing.Others are from walks and places visited . No idea what my fascination with them is...but I`m going to collect one every time I run.

Oh..and the Metro map? I strapped it to the front of my diary with a high tech elastic band in murky, mizzly January; longing for freedom, and Paris in the springtime.

One`s now sorted; one`s so close I can smell the boulangerie. Simple rewards; effective incentives.Want to know your best route from La Fourche to Michel Bizot? I`m your girl. And if I see the odd Parisian pine cone while I`m there; I`ll nab one of those too: as a memento and a symbol of mission accomplished.