Fat C Fatwa

I’ve felt the need to correct the most egregious of Quirky’s grammatical errors, and also to point out that the only Australian Football League team worth mentioning is in fact the Western Bulldogs (formerly known as Footscray), who happened to thrash Quirky’s team (I can’t bring myself to mention their name) just last week.  Oh, and by the way, don’t be fooled into thinking Quirky didn’t pig in to the dessert just like the rest of us.  Three scoops of full cream ice cream – green tea, red bean and black sesame flavours – Quirky’s portion vanished first!

After a slight hiccup from the day before the Fat C’s step out again.

After a day off yesterday, three of the FCWC’s set out today to once more to pound the pavements and in doing so burn up the calories gained yesterday from our visit to a local Japanese restaurant in Melbourne called “Tori Matsu”. One of the reasons for the choice of restaurant was its consistently high quality food at reasonable prices.

Yesterday was in part a celebration and wake to compensate for a change in the work environment. As you read our entries, you will notice that despite the walking regime we treat ourselves to a well earned reward from time to time. This is necessary to maintain enthusiasm and provide us with a goal to work towards whilst maintaining our regular walking regime. During this week Dina and I have walked on three occasions over lunch and Pesky has walked on two of those.

Despite subtle attempts from the more sensible member of the FCWC’s I was unable to persuade my fellow walkers not to consume an item from the dessert menu after having eaten quite sensibly at lunch yesterday. So today I decided to extract my revenge and increase the pace of the walk.

Initially Pesky was complaining about something at the start of the walk, the subject nature escapes me now, as the complaints often come thick and fast but after easing the walkers along, we proceeded along our familiar route. We had a timeframe for the walk due to another commitment for Pesky. “Yet another lame excuse” I remarked to which Dina chuckled.

Although the route was one of our usual walks along the Yarra River in Melbourne, the changing nature of the season and the surrounds made for interesting observations. It was a mild calm day, almost breathless. The cygnets commented upon in the previous note have gown although it appears that one or two of the family members have moved hopefully to greener pastures or should that be greener waters! There was considerable river traffic which provided us with suitable distractions along the walk today including rowers and boats carrying passengers on river cruises.

Today we noted the number of ‘boot camp’ exercises taking place. One of our original members-Churchill -has become a “boot camp” devotee but the core members of the group prefer a more genteel style of exercise possibly reflective of our mature age status.

I am quite sure I spotted members of the St.Kilda Football Club running along our chosen route. It seems the nature and variety of our walks has spread through word of mouth. It is through these entries we will provide the substance for you.

Having walked according to our allotted time, we returned to our place of work, each one of us feeling extremely bouyant by the excercise itself and the encouragement from our fellow FCWC members.

Tomorrow brings yet another challenge for the FCWC.

What is the Fat C Walking Club?

About 12 months ago three fat and unhealthy lawyers working for a large law firm in Melbourne Australia decided to get off their backsides and start walking during lunch time, with the aim of doing so at least 3 times per week. The “Fat Colleagues Walking Club” (or “FCWC” for short) was born!

Since our first walk, a number of fellow colleagues have joined us. One of them has become very fit as a result of joining our club! In fact he became so fit, he left our law firm and although he still keeps in touch he is no longer a member of the FCWC as he no longer meets either qualification!

Pictured are Churchill (our only graduate to date) Dina and Pesky.  We have mapped out a series of walks around the CBD of Melbourne, ranging in time from 45 minutes to 60 minutes to complete the circuit.

The object is to get in a good walk “door to door” within an hour’s lunch break.

We find the walks reduce stress, improve mood and help us to lose (or at worst, maintain) weight.

In addition, we have discovered all sorts of interesting places around Melbourne, and can for example watch the progress of tiny cygnets growing up on the banks of the Yarra River under the watchful eyes of their parents, or note the opening and closing of new restaurants in Chinatown. [This is a very important activity, which is explained in further detail elsewhere in this blog]!