When pears become apples

WELL, what a disappointment! After today’s ‘pound around the park’ I arrived home and consulted the app on my mobile – only to learn I’d been out for 31 minutes, completed 2.5 miles and burned two apples’ worth of calories! Pah! Technology doesn’t know what it’s talking about! I’d actually been twice as long and walked twice the distance. Yesterday I’d earned four pears for the same route, and today a measly two apples? Outrageous!

Unfortunately, the app had somehow switched off – perhaps I knocked the button – and only recorded half the journey. Ah well, what’s an apple or two in the broader scheme of things? Even though I didn’t 'earn my pears,’ it was an exhilarating walk. 

A couple head for the park on a sunny evening.

I missed this morning, so went this evening instead, starting at 6.0pm. Immediately noticeable was the traffic. Early in the morning there’s hardly any, whereas at this time the roads are choc-a-block and there are distinctly more fumes. But I was soon weaving my way along residential pathways after crossing the car-heavy main road.

It was one of my favourite skies; milky gold around a lightly-veiled sun. That put me in a good mood from the start. The park itself teemed with life. The bright colours of soccer teams, exercise groups, dog walkers and others speckled the expanse of grass like the hundreds and thousands sugar decorations you see on cakes.

Marshalls in yellow fluorescent vests brandished clipboards, obviously awaiting some group or other; yet other enthusiasts were deep into stretching exercises for Nordic walking. Assorted walkers, joggers and runners formed a sort of circulatory system of their own, pacing out their routines, moving in a steady flow around the park, determination and persistence etched on their heated faces.

I couldn’t believe it when I saw only half the route recorded on my mobile. But it’ll give me something to aim for tomorrow . . . a couple more apples? Pears? Bananas, perhaps?