Cancelling the phone, wriggling out of exercise

I have just got off the phone with O2. I have had a phone contract with them for about 6 years and after I left the UK it was still running. It runs out next month though so I was calling to cancel the contract. It feels like my last connection with the UK and that without it I won't be able to be contacted. As it happens there are only about three people who still send me any messages on it and I'm in email contact with all of them so I don't expect me to lose touch with them any time soon!

It is strange how attached you get to numbers though - I had thought about changing it to a pay as you go just so that I could keep the number. Of course nowadays nobody knows anybody's phone number since it's all on the phone so whether I keep a particular number or not is irrelavent. But there was a time when you knew all the phone numbers of the people you called most often. I can still remember my Dad's old Hazel Grove phone number twenty years after he moved out. That's all changed now and I don't even know Ulriikka's current phone number. It means that if I lose my phone I might never see her again.

In unrelated news I joined the local gym, technically with the intention of getting rid of the paunch that seems to be deceloping. I'm probably not going to start using the weight machines as it seems to be the most boring thing I can imagine doing. I have gone to a couple of the classes though and they seem enjoyable enough. I did a cycling lesson which started off OK. After about 15 minutes though I was in agony from the bike seat that made it difficult to sit down. The idea of the class though was to stand at various points which left my thighs feeling like they were on fire. So my choice was between severe bottom pain and thigh-knack. I managed to make it to the end of the hour though (mainly by not standing on the bike as much as I should have done if I am honest).

Next up was pilates a few days later. Piece of piss, I figure, it's just stretching. I couldn't do it. I figure that the main problem is that I'm just not strong enough to do it and it will get easier if I stick at it. It was a bit embarrasing not to be able to keep my leg still lifted in the air. Not as embarrasing as not being able to do a sit up mind, but at least that was at the end of the hour and I could blame it on tiredness and the ball between my legs...

The plan is to go three times a week, or twice at the very least. That said, I'm writing this instead of getting ready for the Vatsa-selkä class starting in five minutes. I haven't been to the gym this week at all so week 2 and skiving doesn't bode well. But I will be going regularly so that at the very least I'm not out of breath when I walk up two flights of stairs at school.