I was inspired to suggest this post for Shackman’s and my 2 on 1 weekly Friday post on the same topic after I had published Retirement 2 on my blog.
It is not as though weekend athletic activity is something new that has just caught on with the younger corporate crowd. We had such activities too in our working days. Golfing, sailing, cricket, tennis, billiards, bridge, etc were all part of our weekend lives.
My readers know that in the early mornings I sit with my mug of tea in my verandah abutting our garden. From where I sit I can get partial view of the road just outside our compound behind the picket fence that you see in this photograph. Many walkers and joggers who know me greet me as they pass by.
On weekends, both on Saturdays and Sundays and on all public holidays, the number of joggers shoot up sharply and on some days, large groups jog with motorcycle/scooter born cheer leaders egging them on. Sometimes, the numbers are so large that the parade to stop can take up to half an hour!
I call these holiday joggers weekend athletes as I do not see them on other days. They may well be jogging somewhere else on other days but, on holidays the groups who run outside my home do not put in an appearance there on week days.
I am neither a weekend nor a week day athlete! During my working days, till my hips gave way, I was a weekend athlete playing golf and /or tennis on Saturdays and Sundays as well as swimming a few lengths of whichever club swimming pool that I was a member of at that time. During weekdays, I had to satisfy myself with just the yogabhyas at home every morning and I really used to look forward to the weekends for the golf, tennis and swim.
Those activities came to a stop in 1981 and I had to satisfy myself with yogabhyas, and the club’s gym facilities for those exercises that I was allowed. I however used to love the post exercise sauna and shower. Since my late wife took ill and I had to assume caretaker duties all those also stopped and I never went back to them after her death. I now restrict my exercises to just the morning yogabhyas.
Many of my friends even now play weekend golf and the retired ones among them play more during week days as they can afford to! I sometimes go and sit at the cafe in the club and read books or magazines while I wait for them. None of them jog!