I made reference in a posting further up the year to the (re)discovery – on the part of The Girl and I – of the importance both of exercise and diet as essential weapons in the war that we are obliged these days to wage against the powers of aging… and all that that entails.
I will be writing a post in the not too distant future on this subject which will doubtless be thoughtful, serious and measured – as befits the importance of the subject. For the time being – however – a recent smidgeon of anecdotage…
The year that The Girl and I arrived in Canada – 2015 – we both joined a fitness class advertised as being for those ‘fabulously over fifty!’ Shortly thereafter The Girl decided that it was far too soon to be retired and found herself a job – the which in turn obliged her to locate alternate routes to fitness and health that did not clash with her work schedule.
I remained in the class – and am indeed still a regular now. We are all considerably further north than the original fifty; in some cases by several decades, but we enjoy the class as much for the social elements as for the workouts – and good and enduring friendships have been established between us.
Now that The Girl has retired she sees no reason to be up and out of the house at shortly after 8:00am – particularly not to indulge in physical exercise. On my fitness mornings, therefore, I sneak out as quietly as I can in an attempt to avoid disturbing her. I set an alarm but aim to awaken before it goes off.
These good intentions do not always go to plan – as was the case on Thursday last. On waking I struggled to read my watch with misty morning eyes. I deduced that the alarm had yet to sound… cancelled it, got up, made my coffee, grabbed my gym kit, yoga mat and other accoutrements, tip-toed out of the house and departed as quietly as possible for Sidney by the Sea.
On arrival in town I headed for the gym – the which is held in an elders’ facility called the Shoal Centre. I was slightly surprised that there was no-one behind the reception desk, but figured that there might be some event occurring of which I was unaware. When I reached the gym door – however – and peeped through I was greatly surprised to find a group of exercisers preparing for their class… none of whom I recognised at all!!
In spite of the fog yet lurking in my brain I was finally able to figure out what had happened. It was, of course, an hour earlier than I had thought and this gym class was an even earlier one that that frequented by us only marginally crazy folks. Who can seriously do exercise at 7:00 in the morning (please don’t feel obliged to respond!).
I slunk back to the car and kept my head down for an hour – until it was finally time for our class.
This getting old thing has been seriously over-sold!
