The trouble with exercise......

greatnan you may have a bit of a queue for your spare room - better start taking GN bookings

Right-o. I'll be there!

What a fabulous place to live Greatnan.I have no trouble in choosing a walk over the housework, in fact I would be walking now, but have to stay in for a parcel delivery. No excuse not to do dusting or the ironing

You are welcome to come and stay - I have a double bedroom spare!

Absolutely agree Greatnan. Even if I am a bit of your surroundings.

I live alone in a 24 sq. metre flat so housework takes about an hour a week!
Walking is wonderful - I usually walk for a minimum of two hours a day, and often much longer. I started gradually, just an hour's round trip, but quickly got addicted to the great feeling of being in the fresh air and getting close to nature. Now, I feel quite unhappy if I can't get out because of the weather - I don't mind if it is overcast but I am not quite daft enough to walk in pouring rain, as the lanes near me would be quite dangerous.

I should add that I live in a small ski resort in the French Alps, surrounded by the most glorious scenery - lakes, rivers, waterfalls, forests, meadows and always the snow capped peak of Mont Blanc glistening in the sun!

I have found walking with Nordic poles a great help - your arms swing in rhythmn and you quickly lose any 'bingo wings' and develop biceps instead! You might get some funny looks, though, if you live in a less isolated spot!

My advice to anyone torn between housework and walking is always take the walk - the dust will be there when you get back with your improved breathing, circulation and heart rate.

I so agree Barrow. I wore my pedometer and away I went with the vacuum cleaner and then swished around with the floor mop and hopped up and down stairs to do this that and the other and do you know, my pedometer let me down big time. It seems all the movement was in my arms rather than my legs. I'm sooooooo disappointed with my efforts and wonder whether I'll bother ever again

Getting back to housework (sorry), whenever I am torn between going out for a coffee with friends or cleaning the house I remember what my dear old grandmother told me. Friends may not always be there but housework will be - enjoy your friends and do the housework when you can't think of anything else to do!

No yogagran they are all oldies like me and don't wear anything special. Some even do it in their normal outdoor shoes.

The trouble with exercise is that all that jiggling about make you spill your wine.

I'm a bit wary of Zumba - are they all twenty something and lycra clad?

Went to Zumba today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Mind you I'm feeling a few tweeks here and there. This must mean that it's done some good though. It's a much more enjpyable way of exercising than say, going to the gym which, I personally, find mind numbing. So, from now on, I'm a convert!

Every week I say I will take more exercise and go for a walk every day , but I am so much better at excuses than exercise.

My pilates teacher has just finished an instructors' Zumba course and we'll be able to use our credits for this which should be fun. I'm certainly not a nifty fifty though - more a stickless sixty, but I'll give it a whirl when the opportunity arises. I'd love to do some walking though but the shortage of loos en route makes me a little anxious. How do walkers manage? Any hints welcome

Yes Zumba is great. I go to nifty fifties and aqua aerobics about 11.15 so have time to do a little housework before I go as I don't feel like doing it when I come home. Luckily DH helps out a lot but if we have somewhere we want to go then the housework just has to wait. No point getting stressed about it. Life is too short.

Next week I'm hoping to beable to pluck up enough courage as well as energy to go to a Zumba class. Have any of you tried it??

You're so right jinglej. On walking days it might be a good idea to have the remaining time being lazy when poss. - reading, gransnetting,catching up on recorded programmes etc. Days inbetween we could be a bit more energetic indoors or in the garden.
What a fantastic quote from Quentin Crisp!! I'm no domestic goddess and only do the absolute necessaries. Even Mrs Beeton didn't think that much of it for she wrote-:
" If a woman allows household cares entirely to occupy her thoughts, she is apt to become narrow in her interests and sympathies, a condition not conducive to domestic happiness"

I know. I don't for one moment think Mark Twain would have been racist. Never!

But you know how it is with grandkids - all that innocence. Its because the n word is still used by horrible people today.

"Slave" would be better, much better. That would be history. Will look for one with that word. Thanks. It's a really good book. I think he would love it.

jings, I understand your concern, but isn't reading the objectionable 'n' word and understanding why it is unacceptable part of your GS's education? There are censored edited versions of Tom Sawyer which use the word 'slave' instead. Mark Twain was not a racist.

If you google the term "edit tom sawyer", there's plenty of info, such as what follows. I actually wrote a post saying the same thing yesterday but deleted it, so it was pleasing to find that others have had the same thoughts:
"Twain used the 'n-word' deliberately because he hated racism and he hated slavery," Jones continued. "Children who read this book deserve the chance to read the book thoughtfully and in its entirety and to understand and to ask questions about why (Twain) used the word and then allow teachers, parents and librarians to answer their questions."

The book was written and published long after slavery was abolished in the US, so in fact the word 'slave' is incorrect from that point of view as well.

My just eleven-year-old daughter is certainly old enough to understand why 'nigger' is an unacceptable word, so I'm guessing your GS is old enough too.

Thanks for your explanation, elegran. I will be careful where I shed my skin in future.

Go and do the morning walks jingle, the housework won't go away but these lovely autumn morning will

I downloaded this one from Amazon onto my kindle.

Don't know if there are any updated editions.

I'd forgotten that, are there not updated edited versions.

He has heard the odd word or two from his granny's lips - by mistake - that he shouldn't have done. But not as bad as that one.

About Tom Sawyer. (Suppose this should go in the book club bit, but still.)

Its got a bad word in it that obviously was acceptable in America at that time. Begins with "n". So, can't really give it to ten year old GS. Perhaps when he's a bit older. I wouldn't want to teach him a word that he hasn't come across yet.

Shame, but still.