Ready for action

I now know how to reduce my colleagues to fits of uncontrollable laughter. I just have to tell them I'm going to the gym.

It was slightly disconcerting to spark a scene that would have impressed Michael McIntyre, but hopefully I will have the last laugh when my fitness regime really kicks in.

No, I won't be going to the 'Forever Fit (50+)' class. It will be weights, cross-trainers and exercises on the mat for me. Well, that's the plan.

Tonight was my induction session. The woman who showed me around repeatedly peered, with a worried look on her face, at my over-generous midriff and was a shade concerned at my blood pressure reading.

I told her that I had just climbed Bristol's equivalent of Snowdon to reach the leisure centre, which probably accounted for the high-ish reading.

She took a second reading and said, in a thick French accent, 'You are high average'.

Happily, it wasn't high enough for me to be dispatched unceremoniously whence I came and I was allowed to try out various pieces of equipment.

It probably sounds odd to say I enjoyed using them all, but that was actually the case.

So I'll be back there tomorrow raring to go.

The picture, by the way, is of me in my drill top before the fun started :-)