Tag Archives: Beach House

Our renovation – My home gym


Over the last few years, fitness has become quite a significant part of my life. It wasn’t something I originally set out to make a major part of my routine. I’ve always done some form of excercise, but I don’t think it was truly part of my life, I just fitted it in.

That all changed  with a rather unflattering realisation while changing a car tyre. I went to get up from the footpath and struggled to keep my balance.

Something  wasn’t right. I was too young for this and something needed to change. I’d ridden bikes for years and, as I said earlier, I always considered myself reasonably active, but I wasn’t actually getting any fitter. In fact, my weight was gradually going up. This was even after I retired and I was no longer entertaining a few times a week. I was however not really watching my diet and I was having a glass of wine most nights. I was also struggling to keep up with my riding group.

Eventually my doctor made the fairly obvious observation that I could probably afford to shed a few kilos.

It was time to do something about it.

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Renovating

Write about your dream home.

View from back door

Just over 2 years ago sitting in a pub in Penola, in the Coonawarra wine region of South Australia, I mused with my favourite persona about sorting out the spiral staircase in our beach house.

Our spiral staircase has been the bane of our regular visits. All of us have fallen off the last step, with my mother needing stitches from her fall. My youngest daughter said all of her friends had stories about their falls; presumably after a couple of drinks. It has also been a safety hazard for our young grandchildren.

So we started planning.

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