I’ve started wearing my Fitbit again and yesterday, without doing any exercise at all, I managed to clock up 15,427 steps and 87 minutes of moderate activity in one day.
Now before you get all excited about the possibility of getting exercise while Netflix cruising on the sofa, let me explain what I mean. Yesterday my daughter had a Highland dance lesson in the morning and because we don’t own a car, we cycled there. While she’s having her lesson I walk down the road to the charity shop and look for bargains then walk back to pick her up. After the lesson we cycle further away from home to Newton Dee for lunch and groceries. Then we cycle home again. We’re home for about 1 to 2 hours before heading out for the kids’ swimming lesson. We don’t have a car so we walk to swimming and after the lesson we walk home again. Just doing our regular Saturday routine gives me over 15,000 steps. I didn’t have to go to the gym or to pilates or yoga or for a run or anything. I just went about my usual Saturday without having to make any special effort to fit exercise in. It just happened because we dispensed with our car and use our legs for transportation.
At the charity shop I bought a fab “Mary Poppins” weekend carpet bag for £8.
The label inside says it’s made in the UK and the brand is St Michael. I did a bit of internet searching and these were made by Marks and Spencer. I found one on eBay for £45. I think I got a bargain!
rachel.blog 
I remember St Michael from when I was a child. I never understood why it was the same as Marks and Spencers but had a different name.
I like how your steps are proper steps too not just ambling about around the house.
Was it a Marks and Spencers brand? Did they sell other things too? I’ve never heard of it before.
It used to be on the labels in a lot of my clothes. Like my school uniform! So clothes and textiles. I think it was the main M&S brand.
That was such a long time ago! 35 years or so!
Wow! That’s excellent! I don’t think my bargain bag has been used at all because it’s still in great condition.
I love that bag! What great luck to snag that beauty from a thrift shop!
I suppose I could get my daily ten thousand steps in by walking to the supermarket, but the weight lifting part going home (I usually buy at least two bags of groceries per trip) would probably kill my arms.
I’m pretty pleased with the bag. I love how it opens so widely at the top. Good for finding things.
Carrying lots of groceries is tricky. That’s why I like taking my bike with me to the shops. The cargo bike has the huge box but even my regular bike has panniers and a big basket up front. You could get one of these trolleys – https://www.johnlewis.com/rolser-saquet-trolley-black/p1521365?sku=233704920&s_kwcid=2dx92700036031204637
That is a cute trolley; I think I’ll splurge on that one after I get my paycheck. A number of residents here at the senior complex use these flimsy folding aluminum carts which break when overloaded. (I know this because I’ve assisted a couple of neighbors in carrying their wheel-less trolleys up to their apartments.)
My son also uses his bicycle for shopping, using heavy duty panniers on a rack he attached to the rear fender. It does limit the amount he can carry home in the panniers, but he’s a single guy and doesn’t need to buy much. 🙂
When my kids were little I used to find their push chair handy for holding lots of shopping and much easier than carrying it by hand. Sometimes now I’ll take the bike even though I could walk, just because I want a way to carry the shopping home 🙂
St. Michael
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the patron saint of underwear
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It’s an old joke based on the fact that, some time ago, *everyone* bought their underwear at Marks and Sparks and it all had the “St Michael” label inside.
[…] Fitbit yesterday while sitting on my butt. It’s not like the last time I boasted about doing exercise without doing any exercise – last time I really did exercise, thanks to active travel. However yesterday we used the […]