‘I’m stretching on the floor now,’ Lauren responded when I asked her what she was up to. Lauren has a bad back and a bad ankle. ‘We are getting old,’ I responded. ‘I have a chafed bum from last night’s spin class.’
‘I hope you have some Sudocrem,’ Lauren laughed.
‘I blame my G-string,’ I replied, regretting how much I had admitted.
‘What are you up to this weekend?’ Lauren asked.
‘I’ll go to the food market on Saturday and I might see an exhibition. You?’ Lauren has also started to give me weather updates. Frankly, our conversations are getting rather like those my mum has with her friends.
Actually, when I asked my mum about her weekend plans she revealed that she was going to a reggae party above a pub. Afterwards, she admitted she returned home at 5am. I didn’t make it to the exhibition; in fact I had an afternoon nap.
There are a lot of things the 30-something me loves to do (and that I never thought I’d be doing)…
- Going to the food market on Saturdays. I might pretend that I’m addicted to trying out Ottolenghi recipes but actually BBC Good Food recipes are easier.
- Watching films at home. You can have a drink and not worry about needing the loo halfway through.
- Weekend afternoon naps. Makes your brain work faster, apparently.
- Having a stash of birthday cards. Birthdays, births and weddings creep up on me. I particularly like browsing museum shops for artists’ cards to stock up on.
- Reading for pleasure. I’m secretly pleased that my next work trip flight isn’t direct.
If you checked my Facebook you’d think you had the wrong person: it’s full of party, travel and restaurant pics. And I have advised Plan B to post a few party photos on his Facebook. ‘Why?,’ he asked.
‘You are starting to look like a Crunchy Granola.’
‘What is a CG?’
‘Someone who likes to spend their weekends at garden centres and village fetes.’
‘That is who I am now. Get used to it,’ he said with finality. A couple of days later he sent me a photo of him holding a pint in a crowded bar with a Viking helmet on his head.
