I’ll try and explain the title of this post so please bear with me.
A few years ago, I built a (temporary) sun lounge / conservatory on the back of the house constructed mainly of wood. In recent times, Rattus Norvegicus (NOT the Stranglers’ album) has made it’s presence known but chewing it’s way into said building.
Last weekend, I decided to do something about it, namely, fixing wire mesh panels between the walls and floor. As I removed carpet and fixtures, I noticed that some parts had not weathered well, whereas others had been chewed well so a dash to B&Q was needed.
I returned with timber battens, exterior ply panels and plasterboard then spent the next couple of days crawling around on my arthritic knees rebuilding.
Come Monday morning, I was hobbling around taking Ibuprofen and Paracetamol, trying to get my knees to work as normally as they ever are.
Apart from playing Bob the Builder (I hope he doesn’t suffer with his knees when he’s older) I have been reading a humorous book on my Kindle.
One chapter is titled “Breakfast at Stiffer Knees” which I thought was a brilliant phase and just had to use it in my blog. I think that it works with this subject – don’t you ?
I was having trouble with my knees as well as a swollen toe (sudden increase in mileage?) so took it easy on the exercise front for a couple of days.
It’s one of my grandchildren’s birthday tomorrow and we had to send him a card. I hatched a plan to walk over to his house, drop off the card and then catch the bus back home.
The distance to be walked was about twelve kilometres but I couldn’t get there much before half nine (OAP bus pass and all that) so left home just after seven.
It was hovering around freezing as I set off so it was on with the gloves and wooly hat as I took the mainly traffic-free route towards Chelmsley Wood before following Kingshurst Brook from where it joined the Cole out to the airport by which time it had changed it’s name to Hatchford Brook.
I was rewarded with a marvellous sunrise as I skirted around Birmingham International Airport before moving through Sheldon Country Park past a scattering of dog walkers (I had to stop and stroke a few – dogs not the owners).
After a noisy stretch across the busy Coventry Road (A45) I left the rush hour traffic behind to cut across a bit more greenery before reaching my destination.
My Grandson’s household are not morning people so after an unanswered text asking if they were awake, I left the card in the porch before turning around. I was still too early (twirly) to avail myself of free bus travel so headed for the nearby Grand Union Canal with was followed for a couple of kilometres to Yardley by which time I could catch a bus without having to fork out.
The 11 and 94 bus services got me back home by about half ten where I had time for a cuppa with Sue before she left for her Wednesday girls’ rendezvous with an old work colleague.
Whilst the cat was away, this mouse updated my exercise spreadsheet discovering that I was (just) on target to walk one thousand miles in 2026.
I am doing this challenge to motivate myself to actually get off my arse and get back into the walking, which I used to do a lot – usually well over a thousand miles a year.
I think that I’ve been using the dodgy knees excuse for long enough so it’s kill or cure time !
