Thin end of the slippery slope

This morning, in the changing room at the gym I overheard a conversation between two old chaps…by which I mean around my age. It went a little something like this:

OLD CHAP 1: I nearly didn’t come in today.
OLD CHAP 2: Oh, that’s very dangerous. It’s a slippery slope you know. You start not coming in and…well.
OLD CHAP 1: Yes, I see that. But this morning I woke up, looked out the window at the blue sky and the last thing I felt like doing was coming here.
OLD CHAP 2: Mind you, we have Vanessa today.
OLD CHAP 1: (groan) I wish I HAD stayed home now.
OLD CHAP 2: Yep. Vanessa will whip us into shape! (They both laugh)
OLD CHAP 1: Literally!
OLD CHAP 2: Still, I think my body would miss it if I stopped.
OLD CHAP 1: My bed is still calling me!
OLD CHAP 2: Thin end of the wedge, my friend. C’mon, let’s go see Vanessa.
OLD CHAP 1: (groan) I guess.

Given these two chaps were around my age I can only assume that they actually know the meaning of the word ‘literally.’ If they did mean ‘literally’ then I’m surprised that anyone goes to Vanessa’s classes.

Which reminds me…a woman on the train the other night was on the phone to someone and stressed that she was ‘literally at Farnham’ when in fact we’d only just left Aldershot. I’m guessing the person she was talking to is either always late or the woman thinks ‘literally’ is the same as ‘almost’, ‘nearly’ or four minutes away.

Anyway, as OLD CHAP 1 said earlier, the day was beautiful. The sun was out, the sky was blue, it was glorious and such a change from all the wet we’ve been having. It’s true there was a very blustery wind but that only meant I had to watch my hat and avoid being blown over.

The park looked stunning, something the girls agreed with wholeheartedly.

The weather was ideal for more than just me and the dogs. We were expecting Gary from the joiners today. He was due to arrive at ‘lunchtime’ so I was figuring he’d be with us between 12 and 2. He was coming to fix up a leak in the ceiling lantern that made itself known on Sunday night by dripping on my head. Anyway, it’s still under warranty so he was coming out to plug the leak for free.

He turned up at 11 (which I don’t class as ‘lunchtime’ but was perfect, really) and set to work. He found the problem, fixed it up (fixing up the other side as well, just in case) then left us to the rest of the day.