The first of the new season´s APAPS breakfasts walks got off to a relatively quiet start with only 5 participants who assembled at Retiro dos Pescadores by 7 a.m. ready for a prompt start. Several regulars were absent from walk and breakfast for various reasons, medical imperative, familial, and climate change being among them.
Luckily for numbers´ sake,, Janet had reappeared after several weeks or more absence from the WAGS scene although, not having been out for some time, she felt it necessary to check that her knees were in good working order before she started the walk.
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| Knee checking |
Happily they both were; in fact, she showed a remarkable turn of speed throughout the walk, beating all of us going up the hills, and so providing a ringing endorsement of the restorative skills of her personal surgeon.
(Incidentally, the WAGS season just finished had lasted from 12th October 2022 until 21st June 2023 and had totalled 36 walks.)
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| The Starters |
We delayed our start by a generous 10 minutes while we waited for Rod Frew to appear. The last we had heard from him had been via a lengthy WhatsApp message from a delayed Easy Jet on the runway at Gatwick in which he had sent an assortment of emojis indicating variously that he would walk and have breakfast, walk only but with the sort of white stick that the visually impaired use, or just have breakfast, or that he never has breakfast. Clarity of intention was absent. He and another senior member apparently found the new season´s signing- on protocol tricky to come to terms with. More on this later.
Anyway, Rod did not turn up - perhaps he was still stuck on the Gatwick runway and so off we went, past a magnificent bougainvillea tree which inspired the Leader to attempt a photo, only to find that, yet again, he had left his camera behind after the Starter picture, this despite him having asked to be reminded not to leave it behind and, what is more, having actually been reminded not to leave it behind. This is becoming a seriously repetitive problem; he really should not be let out on his own.
Perhaps there is a vacancy for a WAGS/APAPS Camera Guardian whose job would be to pick the camera up and hand it to the poor soul who really does seem to be struggling with what is after all a very simple little process which is to “Just pick the camera up !”
Any volunteers?
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| JohnH reunited with his camera, thanks to Maria |
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| Photo duly taken |
After that hiatus, the walk itself was fairly uneventful, most of it with the four ladies led by Janet racing ahead of the solitary JohnH.
The early morning breeze made the walking pleasurable.
Track and Statistics
Breakfast was the usual splendid Pescadores spread, with masses of good crispy bacon, and sumptuous tomatoes de casa and buttered pão caseiro.
After our appetites were assuaged, a very brief sub-committee session was convened to discuss whether amendments to the signing-on codes proposed by Paul and Rod should be adopted. The unanimous decision was that they should not.
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| Sub-committee in session |
Then the dining room door opened and a somewhat apologetic Rod crept in and joined us for coffee.
What is this signing-on protocol?
At the risk of being boring, for JohnH to arrange breakfasts, he has to know precisely who will be present on the Wednesdays wanting to take breakfast, and he needs to know this by midday Mondays, so that he can place the necessary orders with the selected café in good time. Some responses in previous years have been less than clear.
Hence the following codes.
1 - Walk and breakfast.
2 - Walk, no breakfast.
3 – Breakfast, no walk.
JohnH does not need to know if somebody is not going to be there at all. No reply is self-explanatory
Replies can simply be the numerical code, or the words, or both, your choice.
If words are used, they can be in French, German or Portuguese, if not in English. If you feel like decorating your replies with emojis, well, it´s a free world. Isn´t it?
2 comments:
An excellent start with those identifying as female outnumbering John. (?) by 4 to 1. Far be it from me to indulge in battology, but perhaps if Rod had replied with a simple '4' they would not have needed to wait for 10 minutes at the start!
Also a very comfortable set of stats for a breakfast walk with uphill speed exceeding downhill. Well done Janet. Is that clean living or do the pills kick in early.? Well done John for persevering and I certainly hope to join at least for belt strainer soon.
Since John seems to have to micromanage several garrulous ladies alone these days perhaps this article might help then all. Does he really have to hold the door open to the unisex toilet for the ladies to enter first?
https://theoldie.co.uk/blog/sex-education-for-the-over-70s
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