I had a day off today, while my car was in for some repairs. Rather than waste away the day at home, I decided to make the most of my day off. I arranged with my friends Ryan and Trev to go down the gym around 11am, and then head into down to grab some lunch. In the morning, soon after my car was collected, I had a few phone calls to make, but two phone calls quickly turned into five. With twenty minutes to go before 11am, I headed for the short walk to the Wycombe Sports Centre at Handy Cross. The walk reminded me of my first year college days, when I would take the same route to the bus stop, which would then take me on the forty odd minute journey to Henley via Marlow. (The Wycombe Bus Company service was 328 or Reading Bus Service was 329 at the time). I got to the gym before Trevor. He arrived a few minutes after me and wanted to grab some breakfast before the workout so we headed to the cafe. Ryan was already downstairs in the Expressions Health & Fitness centre and had been for a good twenty minutes by the time we got down there. I do not think I have ever seen him so focused, we left him do it. I was originally just going to do my full resistance programme, but I decided to take some direction from Trev and follow him around. I would be his apprentice for the new few hours. Trevor is a well travelled and very intelligent individual, do not let looks deceive you. He got into fitness while out in Tazmania on his first travels down under. In the following years he got to the stage where he would seriously give Hugh Jackman a run for his money! We spend most of the morning on the freedom trainer, warming up and getting some of the upper body muscles working. Then we went around to some of the resistance machines before returning to the freedom trainer for a final workout. In between, we tried to keep up with Ryan, who was working his way around his workout. He had already warmed up on the freedom trainer earlier. It was a really good workout and I have forgotten all the benefits of having a gym buddy. Trevor was both advising and motivating, pushing me to complete that last few reps of the last set. He also made sure the technique was good and I did not slip up, particularly when the weight was pushed up a level or two. A funny incident occurred towards the end of the workout, Trev went onto the Tricep Extention machine (something I had not used before, so watched him first). While getting into position to lift, he starred for a while into the mirror, brushing is now receeding hairline. Catching him do this (I think he must have thought I had been distracted by something (or someone) else.) “Your beautiful as you Trev!” to bring him crashing back down to earth and back into the gym to continue the work out. If only I had had a camera (plus the written permission of the duty manager) to take a photograph, I would have at that moment! I switched on my mobile phone, as I made my way up the stairs into the reception area. It was 1pm precisely, the gym session had lasted almost two hours. Now, we just had to wait for Ryan and then plan the afternoon. Ryan decided to get his Dad to pick him up and give him a lift into town, whereas Trev and I headed to my house, so I could change and then catch the Park & Ride into the town centre. We caught the 2pm bus and got into town, around fifteen or twenty minutes later to find Ryan waiting outside the entrance to AMF Bowling and Cineworld. After lunch at Frankie & Benny’s. (I am rather disappointed to discover that the history of the restaurant is entirely fictional!). Trev’s friend Wayne from Marlow had also joined us, we headed into some shops in Eden. Firstly HMV, I realised I still had some money on my gift card from Christmas, which I had not spent. Nothing took my fancy and we headed further into town, stopping off at the new Iceland store. (Yes, Wycombe has been without a the flagship frozen food store since the Desborough Road branch was demolished in 2005!). It seemed rather small, considering it had taken up home in the old Woolworths store. Although Ryan was quick to remind me that it was less than half of the old store, as Poundworld, next door had taken the bigger lease which included the old cafe space. The final destination was Argos for me to pick up some table lamps before heading back home. It was a great feeling to get back home and finally full relax and enjoy the weekend. I had been tempted by a trip into Reading to go and catch a movie, although not much appealed. Instead, I stayed in and watched Sports Relief on the BBC. It was great but is it just me, or does it not feel as sporty, when it does not take part in the summer. I am sure the first two sports themed telethons took place in July. The switch to March (ironically due to the sporting calendar) does make it seem rather dull weather wise. Although we are forecast sun for Sunday, apparently. The Smithy sketch had me in stitches. The other highlight was Ashes to Ashes spoof, which was very clever and quite topical (right at the death). I am not a fan of either Life On Mars or the 1980s spin off but they pulled off a very funny and entertaining ten minute skit.