Gym Instructors

Have you ever noticed how gm instructors come up to you just as you start doing warm up exercises at the gym? "I think you should try this exercise instead.." And so from my usual head-spinning-shoulder-spraining routine I start a new one. "Yes yes.. now do this 10 times". But I already knew some warm exercises!! Why do I need to know more?

Having been through such instances a few times in my life, it came to me like a tire-burst in the middle of the highway. Gym instructors like to teach you THEIR OWN warm up exercises. If you have some of your own, they suspect that some other gym instructor may have taught you those and we cant have any of that in THIS gym!!

Having begun with my theory you may have now realised that I have actually started going to the gym. Primarily to lose some of the excess weight I have put on in the last 2 years to the point that people have now started calling me fatso! I will show them I say... but 3 days in a row at the gym and I still get tired at the very mention of a treadmill! But I plan to continue as long as interest remains. I am also on my own version of a diet - the watch-what-you-eat-based-on-how-fatty-it-appears-to-be diet. Wish me luck!

Moving on to Paris!

So we left London safe with the knowledge that we can pretend to have visited the Buckingham Palace what with the picture of the solitary guard at the Tower of London. We were almost delirious at the idea, in fact (at least I think I was because I remember my lovely husband having a conversation with the London taxi driver on our way to the airport about levitation.. or meditation and maybe even sex... yes I think I was most definitely delirious at the time).

It was a short (and also cheap) flight to Paris. We would have loved to take the chunnel but it was a most expensive alternative to the cheap flight that makes you walk to the plane from the terminal (on to the tarmac and all) and walk right out when you land to the terminal (on the tarmac and all). Its a wonder that the passengers do not wander off to watch flights land and take off from up close... I think thats EXACTLY what these flights try to avoid by scheduling them at un-godly hours like 4.30am in the morning (or is it night still....)

So we landed into Paris and took a train and as soon as we walked in a man with the accordion was playing the French national song (you know that music that immediately reminds you of France, even though you have never been there? Yes, thats the one). How sweet... I tried not to notice all the ugly buildings we went by on that train, and the grafiti that adorned ALL the walls EVERYWHERE until we reached the center of Paris. As a result, until we reached the center of Paris, I wondered if some very rich delusional maniac had pronounced it to be one of the most romantic cities of the world only to be followed by all our delusional media and hence the popular delusional notion.

But as soon as we emerged into the center of Paris.. close to our hotel, I was awestruck. I had never seen so many gay people all at once! Apparently, we had booked ourselves in the "gay" part of Paris. How appropriate! It is after all Gay Paris! Cafes with rows of gay men appeared to be inviting us to sit and watch other gay people walk by.... Fabulous stuff dah-ling!

Buckingham Palace - Almost!

Buckingham Palace - Almost!
Originally uploaded by fvariava.

Its been one long holiday since the last time I posted. I went to *ahem* London, Paris and Agde (in the south of France) for an iddy-biddy honeymoon-like holiday with my dear husband who has now fully recovered from jaundice. In fact, he demonstrated how well he had recovered by carrying some very heavy flooring tiles along with ALL the rest of our luggage himself across Western Europe. It was indeed, one of my proudest moments as his wife.

In London, we stayed with Sav and pretended to have visited the Buckingham palace by taking pictures of the solitary guard we found outside the Tower of London. Hah! What a dastardly plan that was. Now, even without having any photos of Buckingham Palace at all, people jump up and say with confidence as the photo of the lone guard is shown - "oh that must be Buckingham Palace". Here he is - very buckingham like looking, no?

In other entertaining moments, Sav and I discovered we had very similar taste in socks (yes you read that right - we own similar looking socks) and spent most of an evening admiring and taking pictures of them. With that out of our systems, Sav decided to keep her eyes closed for any photos we took of her. she claimed the lash made her blink and my efforts to hold her eyelids up also did not work. She refused to open her eyes as long as they camera was pointed at her.

Even though there was a conflict of interest - my husband wanted to shop while I just wanted to curl up and die because of the awful, cold, wet rain - we managed to find a compromise. I was left to sit grumpily at Starbucks while Firdaus ran about Oxford Street for the rest of the day looking for the appropriately branded clothes. I was quite okay being left alone because it was really not like being in a foreign country you know - ladies in salwar kameez walked by at regular intervals, as if just to make me feel a little comfortable there and I even heard loud hindi songs being sung by some very obviously Indian students. Could life get any better?

More photos can be viewed here.

Watch this space for more...