Don’t stop me now …

Yesterday evening Ned and I finally got around to setting up the pedometer we bought some weeks ago, that has been sitting by the microwave ever since. There was an article in the paper recently that said, for good health, people should take at least 10,000 steps per day. I have absolutely no idea how many steps I take, and if I wander round all day counting under my breath (and what’s the betting someone distracts me and I lose count?) I shall be thought of as the local mad woman and kind men will come round and fit me with a lovely new jacket with extra-long cuffs …

So clearly that was not the ideal way to satisfy my curiosity - the gadget it had to be. After mastering the first item on the list of instructions (Opening the Pedometer) it asked us to decide whether we wanted to use real or new money specifications. No contest! Being of a certain age, we are completely happy with imperial measurements. Then we had to work out the length of my stride. This involved measuring the length of the garden, which would have been easier if the long builders’ tape-measure hadn’t suffered canine investigation in the past, reducing us to using a six-foot dressmaking tape. A suitable distance was marked out, and I duly got up steam and set on my way, imagining I was stepping out on the Road to the Isles. Realising that was silly, I eventually managed to get into a more normal, day-to-day type of stride, the length of which (27 inches) was entered into the gadget’s database. Next it demanded that I input my nude bodyweight. This was, I confess, guessed at, so I don’t imagine that the calorie-count function offered will be terribly accurate.

Then we were ready for the off! I’m not as active as I used to be, having had an operation on one foot last year, and getting a sedentary job, but I generally jog to the newsagent in the morning, and walk the dogs as well as potter about the house. We went into Leamington at lunchtime and ambled about for a while trying to remember what we went there for, and decided to buy a new printer. Then later this afternoon we went for a quick cache (because of foolishly not reading all the information before we set off we only managed to complete part of the search, but it was a lovely day to stroll anyway) so perhaps the final figure will be a bit higher than normal.

Step stats to 7.30pm? 10,632.

PS: And to bedtime (midnight)? 11327.