LUXURY.

Ten thousand steps are the recommendation, over the past week I have certainly done more than that a day. My car has been in the garage about two weeks now. I have been getting about by bus and taxi, and I even got a lift last Sunday home.

It has made shopping a bit more of a challenge, planning the basics of what to walk home with and what to not. Potatoes are heavy and so is a pack of four tins of baked beans. Flour is also heavy and six pints of milk.

Yesterday, I walked to the other site for work, maybe it is because I have a touch of the flu, just a touch, and maybe that was why I was struggling to walk at speed! My dose was block, I mean nose, so I had to breathe through my mouth, it was hard work while walking. The cold outside, didn’t help. I have been having honey and lemon in a warm drink in the mornings to help. I had bought some fresh ginger and decided to add a tiny slice of that to my warm drink, last year I chewed it up, it was disgusting! It nearly put me of fresh ginger for life! But this year I thought, I would just add a smidge in my warm drink, surly that would make a difference?

I got to work, I had discussed with Meghan if she would pick me up at the end of my shift, she had agreed. I had also spoken to Paul and had asked him, “Can you and Celtic come and meet me after work?” I thought the long walk would be lovely for Celtic, as she has never meet me from work, at this distance before. To both Meghan and Paul, I had said, “We need more cat litter.”

I text Meghan and said, “Thank you for the offer of picking me up, I will ask Paul and Celtic to meet me, it will be good for Celtic.”

Paul and Celtic arrived, we three walked down the road to the shop to get the cat litter. They waited outside while I went into the store to buy the cat litter. I already had my work bags with me.

I came out of the store; the cat litter was very heavy! The one I use is like little rocks. Celtic was boisterous and sometimes jumped up on Paul.

Paul said, “Let us take it in turns to carry it,” It was SO heavy, what was I thinking that we could walk home all that way, with a bag of tiny rocks! I thought, as it cost £2.19, I am going to leave it here in the car park of the shop, I can’t do this to my back, it is not worth it!

I then gave it to Paul, but with Celtic, not walking nice, he was struggling too.

Both of us had to keep stopping to gain more strength. Finally, I said to Paul, “I will ring Meghan and ask her if she can come and get me and the cat litter.” Meghan was in bed, chilling on the phone with her friend, so I said, “No problem.” She did offer, and I had told her, “No, Paul and Celtic can meet me.” It was ok thinking that at home, but in the cold light of day, it was a different matter. It was like a nightmare unfolding.

I then said to Paul, “I will ring Daniel and ask him to come and help us, Daniel is built for cat litter carrying, he is strong, tall, and goes to the gym. Each time I said to Paul that I would ring Daniel; his reply was the same, “No, we can manage, we are nearly home.” I decided I wasn’t going to carry it anymore; he might be alright but I am not. It was awful, every ten steps poor Paul would stop and take a breather. It would take us ages to get home, I wished I had just left it in the car park, but Nanny needs it.

Finally, I could take it no longer, watching Paul suffering like that. I rang Daniel and asked, “Can you come and meet us?” He said, “Yes, and within five minutes he was with us. He took the cat litter, as heavy as it was, and in one hand without even swopping it over, marched all the way home! It was amazing to watch him, full of strength and life and youthfulness! To him they were teeny tiny weights. I thought of Meghan’s teeny tiny car, that it might be very small, but at the end of the day, it is a car and would have carried the cat litter without any problem at all.

I thought of the lack of a car in my life, over this last two weeks or so, and it really is a luxury, an expensive one, that Paul and I have missed. When I do get my car back, it will be lovely to buy two packs of potatoes instead of one, and two packs of baked beans instead of one and it would not be hard to put six pints of milk in the boot!

I have watched people who have no car, with their shopping, with a rucksack on their back and heavy shopping in both hands, it is hard work. Respect to them.