I like to meet my exercise targets every day. It’s a bit of an obsession, I suppose. Anyway, last night the wind howled around the house, just as the weathermen had predicted, lashing rain and hail - well it sounded like hail - against the skylight windows. As a rule at some point on a Thursday morning I take our small grandson out for a walk. That’s my Thursday dose of exercise. Today the weather remained so foul that we just stayed in. He fell asleep on me over a story. Eventually, after my daughter had come and taken her brood home, Phil and I walked round the block to buy bits and pieces at the coop store. Not long after we got back the sky cleared and the sun came out just in time to set. This evening he sky is clear as clear can be. No doubt the temperature will plummet to go with that. So it goes.
Recently I commented on the money expert Martin Lewis changing from giving hints on bargain purchases to offering advice on how to deal with the rising cost of living. Here’s a link to some of his latest advice on how to keep warm without having the heating on full time.
In this article about Martin Lewis readers suggest wearing old worn-out tight under trousers (extra layers always help) and when sitting still, sitting in a sleeping bag. The problem with the latter suggestion is that not everyone has a sleeping bag handy. Having said that, I can remember being a at university in Leeds, a cold place in the winter, and studying in my bed, wearing two jumpers as I could not afford to feed the electricity meter to keep the fire going. But I was a student and I knew it wouldn’t last for ever. It’s a different story when you have a family to feed and keep warm. And few prospects of things improving!
From the problems of paying for the essentials of life to problems with one of what could be considered life’s luxuries: alcohol. When I went out for lunch on Tuesday with my Italian conversation class friends, at one point we discussed drinking habits. This arose because one of the group said she doesn’t drink alcohol on Tuesdays or Thursdays, thus excluding herself from drinking a toast to the group as the Italians claim that it is bad luck to toast with water. Another of our group admitted to drinking a half bottle of red wine every evening, only ever with her evening meal, but sometimes with a aperitif beforehand. Rather regular drinking then! Some had a glass of wine with food most evenings, more if the meal was any kind of special occasion. But the lady who doesn’t drink on Tuesdays and Thursdays then knocked us for six by saying that on a Friday she usually drinks four or five pints of beer! Where does she put it! I don’t think I could drink four or five pints of water in an evening! I almost felt virtuous not to partake of alcohol every evening!
Then today I read this article someone who realised during the pandemic lockdown that she had an unacknowledged problem with alcohol.
“My drinking,” the writer told us, “had increased during lockdown, but I was in good company. According to a recent medical study, excessive drinking increased by 21% for US adults during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
I wonder what the figures are for the UK.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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