Pilates pains

Pilates lesson this morning. Having missed last week's lesson due to spending hours on the phone to my friends at the Pension Offices, I was keen to get back into it. Well, fairly keen.

It was such a lovely morning that I set off early and took a detour round the Meadows. They are looking particularly lovely at the moment in their autumn colours. But I'm dismayed to see lots and lots of big old trees with the dreaded orange X on them. They're for the chop! I do hope they replace them. In fact, I noted quite a few orange Xs up Blackford Hill too.

I walked along a bit with a young American woman who had a neat wee dog called Audrey. Audrey! Love it! We were talking about the weather, and she was saying she hasn't got used to it here yet. I said that Spring and Autumn can be lovely, but of late Summers are usually a bit rubbish. But nothing like the the extreme weather the East Coast of USA gets is getting. Her mother lives in New Jersey. We agreed that Scottish weather was all right, considering.

Pilates was quite hard. I can feel those unused stomach muscles complaining already. I find the exercise called 'The Table' particularly sore. Lie on you back, both legs up and lower legs parallel with the floor. Then we had to stretch one arm back at the same time as one leg stretched out. But they had to be opposites. Jings! That was hard - my wrong arm or wrong leg just kept moving independently.

Also found it hard to lie face down on the mat, forehead resting on it. My nose kept getting in the way. I did keep glancing at the clock this week, willing the hour to hurry by.

Being in possession of my Bus Pass and Club Card again, I thought I should get one of those wee folders to keep them in. I tend to swop them round whatever jacket pockets I'm going out in. And the lost ones may still be in an un-searched pocket. I've always hated carrying a handbag, preferring to limit my needs to a hanky, some money, Bus Pass and house key. What more do you need? This falls down, of course, when one or more of these vital items is forgotten.

But now that I've got all my camera gear, I will happily cart around a fairly heavy chunky camera bag, complete with dangling monopod. And I will soon get a strap so that I can carry my tripod when needed. I could actually do with a bigger bag...