yes i’ve had my coffee this morning.

> pilates…ball
ohhhh i SEE now where all the injuring was coming from.
if you’re trying to get tauter muskels for prep for walking tho, i doubt the balance ball will do you much good. suggest instead you buy this book and do an hour of this a day instead. and no impact injuries!
the book. (it has the FANTASTIC feature of showing each pose in two different series of steps: 1 “ideal”, the one below it “the reality” which is especially spot on and encouraging for when you first start)

FN. A lavender teddy? you mean I’ll end up clutching a care bear? Oh well, it would solve the problem of what to wear I suppose. As for your final suggestion - yes, now all I need to do is get hold of some.

Babs. Pilate’s? Just say no. Especially to the smug looking woman on the dvd. In fact should you see her, just punch her. Not only good for upper arm strength you’d be doing the world a favour too.

Sal. Pilate’s on it’s own probably wouldn’t be too bad, it’s the balancing bit I have all the trouble with. No sooner do I get myself into the neutral position than the damn ball moves and I end up whacking my shin on the coffee table, my head on the edge of the sofa and in the ensuing confusion my midriff on the particularly pointy ashtray that I’ve left on the floor. However, I stand by my claim that the walking won’t be too much of a strain, I’m a good walker (and swimmer too when I bother to go…ever since scotland brought in the smoking ban all the funs gone out of going to the swimming pool). As far as hiking naked goes…er no. For a start I don’t believe that midges suffer from modesty and secondly masochist though I might be - nettle stings just aren’t my thing. Besides which this is Scotland - the only country I’ve ever seen signs in the female changing rooms of swimming pools telling you that nudity is forbidden. It’s risky enough wearing shorts in this country…

now THERE’S a freudian slip…

i reckon combats + shirt is a good look on girls.
failing that, hike naked.
over and above solving all the what-to-wear? decision agonies, the midges will either be too embarrassed to know where to bite, or all your slapping and scratching will give you a thrill.

and god knows you’ll need something to keep your mind off the murdersing.

And I am SO with you on the color beige. It should be eradicated from clothing lines everywhere. EVERYWHERE!!

i am so with you on the ‘exercise for it’s own sake’ pov. i’d much prefer to have something to show for the work done, like the economy of a small country destroyed and all it’s citizens enslaved or something.
stay strong.
take DRUGZ.

CB. Hmm, the Laura Croft look? I’ll stick with the Sara Connor look I think. She had much meaner weapons and didn’t end up with Brad Pitt. But the whole combats (not cargos! never cargos!) tight top and ammo belt look is one that I love. The only problem is (apart from it making me look like a Kalashnikov wielding sergeant in the tank repair core of the Red Army) that it taps into the inherently violent side of my nature. Having resigned myself to the fact that I’m going to have to wear combat trousers, I’ve already started looking up things I feel may be necessary on this walk - things like a Bowie knife, an Uzi and possibly some lightweight body armour.

Herebe. I know, you’re being uncannily prophetic. I’m counting on the calming effect of T to counteract it (or as a last resort, relying on her qualifications as a psycotherapist, to get them both sectioned if things get too bad). And re the India posts? Honestly. You can either have an India post or a birthday present. I don’t have time to write and paint at the moment.

Christine. It is incredibly gross. I know that. But the lean proteins, hardly any carbs and heaps of veg is pretty much our everyday diet and sometimes you just need something which will get you some fast results. The best diet I ever went on was the campari and orange juice diet. Superslimming, superquick and after the first glass in the morning you were in a good mood for the rest of the day. Definitely taking you up on your version of a walking holiday though, sounds much more the sort of thing I had in mind! (oh and of course the pub owners will fill up the flasks for me - it’s amazing how persuasive an Uzi can be).

But jesus, your “holiday” might have been fun if you were with similarly less inclined to exercise folk. Should I ever make it your way, we can take such a holiday. I’m saying we’ll end up walking to a pub. Walk about a half hour, figure if then next pub is closer than the last, and man if the last one wins out we will never leave. Do you think the pub owners will at least fill your flask for you?