I thought that I had signed up for a dream holiday “away from it all” so was somewhat annoyed to find running club friends lounging beside the hotel pool, and see familiar faces from work at the bar. TPR suggested that we escape for a couple of hours with a trip down to the town and a wander around the shops. Even here our time “alone” together was shared with hundreds of other holiday-makers. We watched hoards of them step down from their cruise ships and wade to land, taking care to negotiate the icebergs along the shoreline. If evidence was ever needed for the effects of global warming, here it was in Antigua.

We returned home by train via Loughborough. As we crossed the University campus I gazed enviously at the fabulous sporting facilities. I wished that I could have completed my undergraduate studies here.