I am so glad that this is all behind me, a long way back in a faint and distant past. I’ve been there, done it, didn’t particularly like it and (and I can’t stress this enough) have no intention of ever doing it again. The dreaded cross country race came and went this week amid icy cold wind and a downpour of very unwelcome rain. My own reservations of cross country are driven by nightmares of running around Manchester streets in shorts, tee-shirt, regulation “pumps” (no fancy trainers back then) and, worst of all, snow! Funnily enough, I seemed to see my own memories reflected in the faces of some of my students, although there were still quite a few whose excitement for sport knows no bounds and who flung themselves gleefully into the arduous, tortuous task. Regardless of what the students themselves thought about it, they all did a fabulous job, some even with a smile on their face.