Pic of dramatic sky taken on station platform tonight...
The gym is a bit like Marmite, you either like it or loathe it. And I have to admit that I like it….. It is a place where I escape with my iPod earphones firmly stuck in my ears while I jog merrily away in my own world on the treadmill. Actually, it is a great place to think about ideas, deconstruct arguments and such like. I have always gravitated towards gyms for the past 20 odd years, and I have been kinda disciplined in my attendance. I hadn’t been to a gym for nearly 3 years when I decided to go back. Feels like years ago when I tentatively arranged my appointment with the personal trainer at 7:30am on a bleak January day ’09, and oh my…she put me through my paces. But with sheer grit, determination and an expensive pair of trainers I persevered….going 3 – 4 times a week. Even personal trainer marvelled (I had that warm glow of approval), she said that people usually gave up after a couple of months …yet I had been dogged in my attendance. And for me, the gym became the strapline of an episode of Cheers…where everyone knows your name…
Initially I chose the gym mainly due to proximity and because I was used to the places. When I was asked why I was doing this by the personal trainer, I said it was to get fit (I like running especially sprinting and I was good at it when I was at school eons ago) but mainly because I wanted to something to stabilise moods, where the endorphin rush kicks me into a positive mindset. And it has kinda improved, I still get anxious and depressed but the fog of depression doesn’t suck me into that abyss as much. I am not suggesting exercise magically erases your woes away….but it seems to a tad with me. Personal trainer keeps me on my toes by pushing me to my limits (she is evil but in a very nice way!) and getting me onto the next scary level….
Anyway, not sure why I am telling the cyberworld this probably because I am knackered, nice knackered with brain unable to function. Indeed there are times I want to lounge on the sofa, eating fancy schmancy cupcakes (damn you Waitrose and Patisserie Valerie…your clever marketing ploy has suckered me!)
I will at some point give my tuppence h’alfpenny thoughts on the Tories plans to streamline benefits (mainly proposals put forward by Iain Duncan Smith).
Want to big up this meeting about Unison and the witch hunt (and will try to attend myself).
Solidarity to the postal workers regarding the national ballot (including hardship fund details).
Oh, thanks to Kevin for telling me about this depressing, grim, dystopian article about what life will be like under the Tories….. very real, truthful and a scary prospect. Fasten your seatbelt ‘cos the welfare state is goin’ bye-bye….
