I've bought a pair of ankle weights today. I said this to a friend of mine who phoned earlier, and she said, "Is that to hold you on the ground?" I don't know if she meant it literally and jokingly as it was very windy last week in London and I'm kind of lightweight or if she was being sarcastic. I know I don't have my feet firmly on the ground all the time but I always seem to land on my feet in the end.
Here's one little example. I've recently joined the Kendo club of the university that my son goes. (You can take a look at this if you don't know what Kendo is.) My age? I've got a teenage son, so you can guess. I've always wanted to do this, and this club is obviously meant for undergraduates and postgraduates but I don't care and nobody in the club cares. So there!
I've been hugely enjoying the practice and of course I did too much, or rather the amount of exercise I've done after my ski accident was too little. I broke my leg in the accident, but that was two years ago and you think two years are long enough for a full recovery. After my third Kendo practice I had a pain in the leg that broke. I went to a physio and was told that I had some sort of incomplete dislocation of fibula cartridge in the accident. I never knew about this and strained the tissue around it during the practice.
He gave me some leg exercises to do, which I've been doing furiously because I've already missed two weeks' Kendo lessons and I want to get back asap. Hence ankle weights. The pain is gone now but I've decided to take exercises a bit more seriously and do them as if they are a paid job. I hate gyms with passion and this is the only way to do it. It works for me and I'll get back to Kendo this week :) "Light up, light up, as if you had a choice."
Here is a bright-coloured salad for a dark autumn day.
Ingredients (for 1 person):
1 beetroot, cut into thin match sticks
1 pear, cut into thin match sticks
about 50g crumbly goats cheese (feta cheese will do)
I use a sharp knife, but if you haven't got one you can use a mandoline. Put all the shredded veg and fruit in a largeish bowl, dribble some olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. You can add lemon juice or red wine vinegar, if you like.
Put them on a plate and crumble some cheese on top.