Yay for me, because this evening I got off my big fat lard arse and Went To The Gym!!! I am so good. I have fully been thinking, considering, wondering, deciding etc about this move for MONTHS, since before we went home for Christmas in fact. But you know, the time just was never quite right, so the excuses were always too good. Then something clicked last week and I decided that 70 kgs was just ridiculously too much for my little stature and that something would have to change.

I checked out Fitness First for Women on Sunday, but it was smelly and yucky and had no pool. Not that I would probably swim much anyway, especially since all these places only have like 16 m pools or something, but I strongly believe that you need that chlorinated air in the gym to make it smell like a proper gym. FFfW also sucked in their patronising approach to initiating membership. Patronising, as in, do you think I’m an idiot? They charge a £125 joining fee, yes that’s right, £125. But this fee is waived if you sign up on the spot when you pop in to make your enquiry. I don’t sign things on the spot. What I wanted to say was “you have got to be fucking kidding me, what, do you think I’m an imbecile?” but what I actually said was “hmm, well that’s quite ridicuous and it’s not going to happen”. The chick offered to talk to her manager during the week to see if she could waive it, but by that stage I was like, whatever. I know from previous experience that Fitness First sucks anyway, their business plan is greedy and nasty and I have vowed twice never to go back there (you’d think once would be enough, but no).

ANYWAY Living Well on Welford Rd, which is ACTUALLY ON MY WAY HOME from work, rocks. So far, anyway. I checked it out on Monday, it was my Sales Advisor’s second day on the job, so she was pretty keen to sign me up, and gave me lovely discounts because I am special and work at the university. I didn’t even need to prove that (the university affiliation I mean, of course she could tell I am special just by looking at me). Then when I went back in to sign the papers on Tuesday, she gave me a month free. So I am impressed.

I went for the first time today, as I have mentioned. It was good, all the machines were the same ones I was used to from FF in WA. They even have the funny stretching machines, on which I am never quite sure whether my g-string is poking out above my pants. I picked the machine with the pillar smack behind it, just in case. So yeah I got home half an hour ago and my face is still red, which I hate, but it was really nice to feel those muscles actually doing something and getting tired, which I have hardly felt since we went waterskiing with Valdi and Reece while we were back in Perth over the southern-hemispheric summer. Yay!