It Seemed Like a Good Idea

Cherie - I feel soooo hugged by that comment. Pass on my thanks to Tony and let him know that he's encouraged me. If you drop your email in the comments, I won't publish it but I'll get in touch with some more info (had to lose a lot of comments so haven't currently got it)

Fifitr - I think you're right - I need to be sparing in my shopping trips. I've spoken to the men of the house and DH and bear will let me know what they need so I only need to go to the shop once or twice a week. I can't in conscience get deliveries when I am able to get out. And I really want to run down the stores. The hard part is knowing that stuff is going to the tip which may, at other times, have been worth going to a charity shop. I think the charities are one of the businesses that are getting hit hard during this. 

Today I walked. I've mentioned about my complete lack of fitness, my worrying lack of strength in my legs and my inability to leave the house before I learned to drive. Today I realised that I have come on a little way. I'm nowhere near where I should be, but I'm nearer. 

I drove Red to KwikFit for a service. They have been awesome in the past, and so I felt okay leaving her with them. I decided to get the bus back home. I didn't live that far away, but further than I thought I could walk, and it wouldn't be a picturesque journey, more walking past small industrial estates but I thought that using the bus would get me more active as I walked between stops. I would have to change in Leeds. So I left the garage and walked to the bus stop. West Yorkshire Metro do a thing where if you text them the number on the bus stop, they text back with the times of the buses due. I would have to wait ten minutes for the next bus. I decided to walk to the next bus stop rather than stand around in the cold.

I got to the next bus stop, and peered ahead. I don't know the area very well, but I recognised the roundabout ahead. I could walk the few hundred yards to the roundabout, turn left and go down another road that has buses that meant I would just need one bus and a little walk. It seemed like a good idea. 

I trudged up the hill, found the bus stop and checked the wait time. It was eight minutes. I thought that I could surely walk to the next bus stop in eight minuties. If I had been on a different road or bus route, I would have managed it fine, but there weren't many houses around, just industrial units and garages, so I was fifty yards short of the stop when the bus sailed past me. 

I had a think. I could stand in the cold, with nowhere to sit or lean, for fifteen minutes until the next bus came and ride four stops (as mentioned, the stops are quite spread out, which is something). I could go on to the next stop and have the shame of riding a bus for three stops. Or I could walk home. I decided to walk. 

I checked on Google maps and I walked two and three quarter miles home. This is not actually that far. When I was a teenager, I would roam around for five miles or more without hesitation. But then when I moved away I became very wary about where I walked, and then I became even more shut in, then there were various health issues, so that by 2018 I was physically unable to walk this far. Today I walked further than I thought I was capable. And even in the industrial estates, there were still some lovely glimpses of nature.

I'll be honest, I got a taxi when I went to pick the car up. The driver terrified me and told me that Covid wasn't serious. I should have walked there. Mind you, I can't move now, so I would have been a wreck.

The service was fine, and the only extra was a bulb needed for the number plate light. Red ran like a dream as I had a quick run around but I didn't stop anywhere. 

I don't know if I'll be able to move tomorrow, but I promised bear that we would do some stuff in the garden. Please wish me luck - so stiff after such a little walk, but it's a big step for me. I'm determined not to fall back.

Writing stuff - getting nearer the publication date of the sequel to Out of the London Mist, which is called Under the Bright Saharan Sky. It's a little odd as while I run around trying to do the right thing in the run up to publication, I'm also working on a fantasy novel. 

Hugs and good health to all.