Poor Tom is froze

It's -12 with the windchill this morning (-7 dry bulb). That's much the coldest I've run in this year. I'd forgotten just how much sucking down lungfuls of cold air hurts. I can do this. I can do this.

Thermopylaae

I've just finshed Paul Cartledge's Thermopylae; the Battle that Changed the World.

Who would have thought that there was anything new to say about Thermopylae? Cartledge, with his unrivalled understanding of Sparta, not only provides new insight into the Causes and Courses of 481-479 BCE (to riff off Calvocoressi et al) but also does for Thermopylae what Fussell did for WW1 in "The Great War and Modern Memory". Roughly half the book deals with the "history" of the diplomacy, war and battle. The other half deals with how Thermopylae has been used in cultural contexts from Herodotus to Frank Miller. Highly recommended.