Fitness Journey, 15 February

 I don't know what Huawei Health thought it was playing at, but I certainly didn't start my walk where it says I did - I may have pressed "start" too quickly before it found the GPS.  Anyway, for the purposes of the walk, I started where I finished, if that makes sense.

I really wasn't feeling it today, but I knew that if I didn't go out, this fitness journey would have ended before it started, so once I had finished Sunday's sermon, I made myself walk down to Windmill Gardens (we have been here before!), where at least I could sit on a bench for a few minutes and try to make my bluetooth headband work - for some reason it simply wouldn't, so no music today and I'd been looking forward to listening to Carol King's "Tapestry", which I believe is now 50 years old.  Anyway, no joy, and sitting on the hard bench made my sciatica, or whatever it is, flare up, so I came back through the Estate.  Still no signs of spring, even though the recent cold spell does seem to be over.  

So not quite as far as it says, so slower than it should have been!  Ah well....

Fitness Journey, 13 February

 

I don't normally go shopping on Saturday, but I signally failed to go out  yesterday, largely due to the fact that the temperature in the bathroom was far too low to even think about showering, so I didn't dress, and I don't think the good citizens of Brixton would be very edified by the sight of me in my nightie.  Plus a bit on the chilly side, this weather!  So I went out today instead.

I went to Tulse Hill Sainsbury's, which is slightly further away than Clapham Common, and I thought didn't have Smart Shop (found out, too late, too late, that it does).  I made sure I went a way that avoided the Sainsbury's Local on the corner of Lambert Road - I could, and arguably should, have walked home that way, but I was a bit tired, so caught the bus.  Proved to me that I'm not yet able to do the walk I really want to do, which is down to Brockwell Park (the bus stop where today's walk ends is at one entrance to the park) then across the park and catch the bus home from Herne Hill or Brockwell Lido.  One of these days.  

Again, next week's goal is 3 walks of at least 15 minutes each.  

Fitness journey, 10 February

 

Just too far, really.  I wanted to go to Sainsbury's (I did turn off the tracker while I was in there), and it's a great circular walk, but without the possibility to stop for a cup of tea, or even a sit-down, it was just that much too far!  Oh well, it will get easier.

What's more, Sainsbury's didn't even have what I wanted, so it was a wasted journey in that sense, although not from the walking point of view.  And the weather was lovely - it's very cold, but bright.  The Swan Whisperer has gone for a long walk - it's unfair to ask him to walk at my pace at the moment, or I'd have made him come with me as far as Sainsbury's, and then he could have gone on over Clapham Common to Battersea Park or wherever...  

Fitness journey, 8 February

 When my alarm clock went off, the bright and chirpy weather forecaster who greets me by name informed me that it was -1 and snowing.  And going to snow.  Accuweather said it was going to start snowing in about an hour.  So I thought I'd better go out while the going was good, dressed quickly, and headed out about 8:30.

It was very cold, so I thought I would just go to Tesco and back - walking into the wind on the way there, and, more comfortably, with my back to it on the way back.  Over the weekend, I bought a headband with bluetooth headphones hidden in it, which worked very well, so I was playing the egregious "Let's have a party" album - think songs like Agadoo and the Birdie Song, but excellent to walk to!  I must see what else I have that increases one's pace without trying.  

I failed to turn off the tracker while I was in Tesco's because I thought I hadn't switched it on properly, so was surprised to find that it paused while I was looking for ras el hanout in the spice rack.  They had it last week, when I didn't need it, but I had less than I thought....  oh well.

I did think of catching a bus back, but there wasn't one due for 3 minutes, and, in fact, I'd nearly reached the next bus stop by the time it arrived.  I'm glad I walked!  And so home to a belated breakfast!

Fitness journey, week 1

 Not exactly travelling - but who knows when, if ever, we will be able to do that again.  Right now it's illegal - illegal!!!! - to go on holiday.  I'm beginning to wish I'd never bought the new motor home; I'd sell it if I didn't think I'd lose so much money on it.  And the Swan Whisperer says we will be able to use it again sometime.  I hope he's right.  

But whether or not we can travel, we can at least stay fit.  I have got extremely unfit lately, and have decided to try to get fit by walking for about 30 minutes 4 or 5 times a week.   I started this last Monday, 1 February, and did 3 walks last week, all of which involved about 20 minutes' walking and then shopping, as we are only supposed to go out once a day.  I have been posting these walks on Facebook, but think it would be better not to bore people there, so will post them on here instead, with a link to Facebook.  

So, this week's walks.

Monday 1 February

I went along Acre Lane, down Baytree Road (there was a blackbird!) out on to Brixton Hill, and then back up Porden Road and so to Tesco's.  Then I got a bus back from Tesco.

Wednesday 3 February

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I had been going to walk to Tulse Hill Sainsbury's and then bus back, but ended up in Sainsbury's Local on the corner of Lambert Road and Brixton Hill.  Was feeling a bit breathless and my back was aching.  Had walked down Strathleven Road and along Lambert Road, then into Sainsbury's.  They didn't have Za'atar, which is what I'm out of!  Anyway, I then got a bus as far as Lambeth Town Hall, walked up Porden Road to the bus stop on Acre Lane, and then bus home. 

Friday 5 February

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Up Strathleven Road, Glenelg Road, Kildoran Road on to Lyham Road, then through Blenheim Gardens but I was getting tired, so cut through to Lambert Road, walked up Branksome Road back to Acre Lane and thus to Lidl.  Breathless again and my calves ached!

I am going to repeat Week 1 next week, weather permitting - aiming for 3x15 minute walks.  I've now acquired a bluetooth headband, so may be able to listen to music while I walk, which will help.  

London Transport Museum Depot. Acton

 We decided we wouldn't carry on with the Treasure Trail, it was too long and had got boring.  It was also a bit too old for Boy Two, and even The Boy had to have help with most of them.  Even us adults did, on a couple of them....

So the question was, what to do today, which is the last day we could all get together before school restarts next week.  I looked on IanVisits and found that the Transport Museum's Acton depot was, exceptionally, open for a few weeks this summer.  Normally it only opens for two weekends a year.  I had never been - I did buy us tickets to go one year, and forgot to put them in the diary, to discover them ten days after the event..... 

They were selling timed tickets, but the 11:00 am slot was already sold out.  The noon slot was warning "Last few tickets", but they managed to sell me 3 adult and 2 child tickets, so we arranged to meet outside the depot at 11:55 this morning.  The Daughter said she was going to drive, since that was easiest and avoided using public transport, and the Swan Whisperer insisted that we would, too.  I had nightmares about it and was very worried about finding parking in the area, even though we knew that the local CPZs were in operation only 09:00-10:00 and 15:00-16:00, presumably to stop people parking all day and going into work on the Tube from Acton Town station.  In any event, I need not have worried as we found a parking space at the first time of trying, within a couple of minutes' walk from the Museum.  So we ended up spending 20 minutes in the car as it was too early to go in!

It was all very easy, and most enjoyable.  We could only see the bus collection and the Tube train collection (I felt we were slightly ripped off, as the tickets were full price, and there was much of the depot that was, understandably, closed off - we couldn't see the ticket machines, or the little huts that the collectors used to sit it, other than from a distance, and the upstairs galleries were closed).  The daughter, Boy Too and I wandered on, but The Boy and the SW were far more engrossed in the technical details of the buses, wondering how you accessed the engines in these ones for maintenance, 

 and generally being nerdish.  They had fun!  We spent hours in the Museum shop (the Daughter said she never had enough time to browse, usually) and the SW bought her her birthday present there.  Then we wandered on through the various Tube trains and out the other end, where they presented the boys with a pack of things to do at home (mostly make a bus-driver's cap), and we had a drink and a snack in the café area, and then a ride on the miniature railway, before heading back to the car.

As I said, most enjoyable, but I do think they could have reduced the price slightly as not all of the Museum was, or could be, open to the public.

Treasure Trail

 This may well end up being Treasure Trail part 1, but I won't edit the title until I know for sure.

One of the sad things about this pandemic is the dearth of summer expeditions with the Boys.  But yesterday their father had an important court case over the Internet, and really didn't want it added to with fighting in the garden, or football goals being scored against his office wall.  So the Daughter decided to take them out on a Treasure Trail around Spitalfields and Brick Lane.  This was a detective trail, with clues to solve to find "Whodunnit", or rather, to eliminate certain suspects and murder weapons, a la Cluedo.

 We met at Liverpool Street Station and first off found a Prets for a cup of coffee/iced tea/juice/babycino (not that Boy Too is a baby any more; he is very nearly 7, but he still likes them!).  But once that was done, we had to retrace our steps to Bishopsgate to find the first clue, which was a date inscribed high on a building.  Most of the clues were that sort of thing, but sometimes you had to think sideways to find them.  There were definitely two we didn't find before we all decided it was lunch time, and headed to Franco Manca for pizza and affogato.  Or plain ice cream, in the case of the boys, who do like coffee now but aren't allowed it much.  

Once lunch was over, I knew I had had enough for one day, and went back to Liverpool Street Station to get a 133 back to Brixton.  I had hoped to go to Morley's, but there was a 355 behind us when we got to Brixton, and I realised I was absolutely exhausted.  I staggered home and went to bed for the rest of the day!  Not as many steps as sometime, but a lot more than I've been able for since I had Covid-19 back at the end of March! 

The Swan Whisperer came in a little later, saying that they had done one or two more clues after lunch, but the boys were getting a bit tired of it, so they decided to call it a day, and the rest of the clues can be done another day.