Categories: uncategorized
Date: 29 September 2009 18:23:24
Good grief, I think I'm in shock.
I've drawn some money out of my savings account and paid up for a year's membership at the local leisure centre. Actually it covers three local centres, all equidistant from my new home, and allows me to swim, use the gym, and go to any of their classes for free. But boy, was it expensive.
It was not easy to explain to the Smudgelet the reason why parting with huge quantities of money will prove a necessary motivator to exercise. The thing is, the pool and the gym here are extortionately expensive in comparison to the Isle of Wight. So when a spare hour is floating around and I think to myself "I wonder whether to go for a swim" or "I wonder whether to pop into the gym for half an hour" (as often happens, of course ;) ) I then think "What? Pay nearly £7 to spend half an hour torturing myself??? You must be kidding. I can't afford that!" and sit down in front of the telly with a box of biscuits and a cup of coffee at less than half the price. I only need to go three times a fortnight for the annual fee to be worthwhile so now I will think "Goodness, I've paid all that money out already, so I'm not going to spend extra on biscuits, coffee and electricity when I could be getting my money's worth at the gym instead".
They were very good. I had to pay by the end of September to get their special offer, but they've frozen the start date until the end of next week to give my eyes time to settle more and give me chance to get back into the routine of work. Also, whenever I go on holiday for a week or if work commitments look like preventing me from going at all during a week, I can ring up and freeze my membership and have those weeks added on at the end. Impressive, that.
Meanwhile back at the camp, my head's hurting far less, but the eyes are still squiffy. And as if that weren't enough, I've had a pain in the neck all day. A twelve-year-old pain in the neck. Yes, he's been off school sick today - a bang on the head at the weekend while canoeing has left him with a sore head which woke me twice in the night last night. He's even voluntarily gone to bed half an hour ago, although I have my suspicions that that is a sympathy-seeking ploy to counter my determination to send him to school tomorrow.