Snow aplenty; home exercise equipment; Birkbeck

Snow theme continues as we had a humdinger (for these parts) of a snowfall on the evening/night of Tuesday 5th, resulting in mass snowings-in of cars the following day. I elected to work from home myself on the Thursday, due partly to almost putting back out twice skidding on packed snow the night before, and partly to an edict from the Vice-Chancellor saying that any staff who were able to work from home that day should do so. We went for a lunchtime stroll in Balmore Walk, a local park, and watched people tobogganing down the steep hill. Wouldn’t have fancied it myself – but then I always was excessively risk-averse about such things. Remember a sledging evening during a school ski trip in 1984, which most of the rest of the group seemed to enjoy mightily but I remember hating every minute of it. My sledge partner, a boy, was charmingly gallant from what I recall. Alex (or was it Alec?) Livermore, you’re a gent – even if you were sick in the coach on the way to the airport.

Having had a bit of backache lately I finally decided to try out the Casall Gym Ball I bought some months ago, but had not up until now got around to using. It comes with a handy little booklet with amusing diagrams of positions one should adopt vis-à-vis the ball. I think I only rolled off once. Supposedly they are good for toning core muscles, so I should probably persist with it. Should also probably know better than to acquire home exercise equipment, as from experience (both mine and others), there just isn’t the incentive to work out that there is in a class/gym. It started off with Kathy Smith’s ‘Body Basics’, a 1980s aerobics video that my sister and I acquired as teenagers – my main memory of it is of us sitting out the high impact section and watching it from the vantage point of the couch, eating toast. I actually still have the video, which I will probably keep out of nostalgia. Later, Ray had a rowing machine for a while, which soon got stashed behind the couch out of sight once we had stubbed toes on it once too often. My parents acquired an abdominiser some years ago, but apparently it has rarely been used. It used to be in their bedroom, but I think Mum found it was only being used as a clotheshorse. I gather recently it has been consigned outside to my father’s office.

Spent Tuesday morning this week at a meeting at Birkbeck College (now seemingly just calling itself Birkbeck, perhaps in manner of Emmerdale Farm/Emmerdale). Enjoyed being able to walk around freely, due to complete absence of snow in central London. Arriving a little early, I had a delicious cup of coffee and chocolate wafers in the ground floor café area, which is furnished with (presumably reproduction) Swan chairs which I’d never sat in before but which seemingly provide wonderful back support – could have sat there all day. Birkbeck’s ground floor has had a swish 21st-century refurb; as one goes higher up the Malet Street building (my meeting was on the third floor), parts look as though they haven’t had much done to them since the 1950s.

The initial charm of the snow is now starting to wear off due to the inconvenience of walking on packed snow and ice. Here are fellow walkers trudging across Christchurch Meadows at 7.30am this morning. A thaw and heavy rain is forecast for the weekend, so presumably the Snow Crisis might be swiftly followed by the Flood Crisis.