Bucking the Trend

The title is almost certainly an Americanism but never mind; they can be quite striking.

I read on Friday that during the latest lockdown people in this country are exercising less and watching more television.

For myself it has been quite the opposite.

I wear a fitness device and before last March although my step count was sometimes as low as 1600 there were other days when it might reach 20,000 and on a good week, when I didn’t have a cold or other health issues, I could average over 8,000 steps which was my personal target.

Since last March I realised that I was lucky to go over 5,000 average, often much less, and when yet another lockdown was announced at the end of December I decided that this time I had to be more organised.

I don’t like exercise for it’s own sake but I found a daily podcast to listen to, for part of the walk, which helped. I also realised that Horseshoe Bridge, which was a walk I enjoyed because it is my “seaside”, was not much further away than Southampton Common. I was also likely to meet less people.

This is obviously not the bridge!

I have always liked the idea of exercise before breakfast, with shower and clean clothes afterwards, but the only time I tried it I got very weak and dizzy. This time I decided to try after breakfast but before shower and clothes for the day. I hoped this might also mean less people to meet, though joggers and dog walkers also get up early!

This was actually a slightly later mid-morning walk on a Saturday.

I have really envied people, whose blogs I’ve read, that can go and walk by the sea whenever they wish. So I decided when I arrived at Horseshoe Bridge to walk along the walkway beside the River Itchen and smell the seaweed and listen to the gulls and watch the way the water can be high or quite low down and showing a rather brown pebble ‘beach’.

I don’t do this everyday. If I have to go out early (hoping for less shoppers) for some milk, or have something else I need to go out for, I count that as my exercise. There is also the weather to consider.

However I have found that my ‘seaside’ walk of a morning has really helped my mental health and energy levels. It hasn’t pushed my average step count up to pre-pandemic levels but at least it is more consistent.

It is also worth saying that I have found that, in general, I am watching less rather than more TV, sitting down later and getting things ready for the next day earlier. This does mean less work on my crochet blanket but that has benefitted my wrists that are so much better than they have been and I think I will still finish it on time.

And here is one of my favourite bits of this walk.

Can you see the boat? (Or the dog-walker?)

Sometimes it is submerged.All photos taken rather quickly with my phone.