Running for South London Special League

Outside the conditions were wet.

Cloudburst, torrential downpour, heavy rain, mist.

Inside my head, I was deep inside the world of provincial Russia, listening to Michael Frayn’s radio adaptation of Anton Chekov’s Wild Honey.

David Tennant stars as village schoolmaster Platonov. He’s the man who seems to have it it all. Wit, intelligence, a comfortable and respectable life, and the attentions of four beautiful women.

Platonov tells other people how to live their life. When challenged on why he hasn’t made more of his own, he replies, “I lie here like a stone and people walk into me.”

Frustrated dreams, farce, tragi-comedy, life in all its varied colours constantly intervene.

Exactly the kind of recognisable, beautiful escapism you need when the rain keeps falling and you have 23km to run before home.