It is eight o’clock in the evening and I’m in the shower – it’s my way of putting a full stop to work for the day. I always think about things when I take a shower, especially one at the end of the day because that’s when I usually take longer… to have a bit of peaceful contemplation. I expect I’m normal and you do the same.

I am thinking about renewing my membership at Dawlish Leisure Centre and attending gym sessions, “Bums and Tum’s and Zumba classes – you’ll perhaps remember that I started my fruit and vegetable diet two days after finding how small my wedding dress is – both of them! (See the earlier blog post entitled “A Tale of Two Wedding Dresses – A Mystery”).  Suddenly I imagine Alex from Aquacise shouting out:

“Feel the burn!”

That is what fitness trainers say – isn’t it?

I’m thinking that today of all days I would not have felt like going to the Leisure Centre even if I had had the time, which I didn’t. I turn my face into the jet of warm water and I am trying to remember if I went cycling this morning. I figure that sounds weird – I know I went cycling recently, but was it this morning or yesterday morning? After nearly nine stultifying hours of constant cleaning – windows (inside and out), all the paintwork, every piece of furniture in the guest suite, hoovering and scrubbing marks out of the white carpet (so many marks) – I have rather lost track of time. I do recall that, yet again, the tide was out at Cockwood Harbour, and I wonder how it can be that the tide is always out when I cycle there with Chris.

Whether or not we went cycling yesterday or today is immaterial – yesterday and the day before were nasty house-working type days aswell; the thing is that we’ve been so busy getting the guest suite ready for our visitors that there has been hardly any time left in any one day for anything else. I decide I will put off renewing my Leisure Centre membership for another week (or such time as a spot of leisure presents itself) and “Feel the burn” then.

Funnily enough, just at that point I feel some burning alright. I look down at my knees, which are red and swollen, and I laugh to myself – I have carpet burn!