A Winter's Tale of perimenowalking

I have reached the age where my body now has Terms and Conditions. One of them is: You must keep moving. In fact, if I don't walk most days, everything quietly seizes up in protest. Knees. Hips. Back. Possibly my entire pending old age! Not to be dramatic but … it’s dramatic!

Unfortunately, Melbourne has reached that delightful stage of winter where opening the front door feels less like "going outside" and more like volunteering for an Antarctic expedition.

And this is my story …

Yesterday morning it was three degrees. THREE!!!!!!!!!

And so I assembled what can only be described as my winter costume:

+Pyjamas (performing the role of thermal underwear).

+ A puffer vest my beautiful friend Judy gave me.

+ An AFL beanie...which, for the record, supports a team I do not (Apparently survival outranks club loyalty)

+ On my hands were a pair of gloves that have been with me since my Montreal days. They're looking a little tired now, but we've been through things together. It felt wrong to leave them behind.

I looked extraordinary.

Not in the Vogue sense.

More in the "woman who may have accidentally wandered away from a ski lodge whilst in mid nightmare" sense.

To complete the experience, I rang one of my closest friends for moral support while I walked.

She answered from the warmth of her couch and morning coffee.

"So..." she said cheerfully. "How's your walk?"

Uh huh, yeah.

I was outside negotiating with the frost like it was a difficult landlord.

Funny how life turns … When we're young, we imagine adventure looking like mountain climbing, backpacking across Europe or swimming with dolphins.

Then, before we’ve blinked and cried “gosh, my knees”, we're fifty-two and adventure has become voluntarily leaving a warm house because your hips have become incredibly opinionated.

Character development comes in many forms, I guess

I’ve decided my morning was quite heroic.

Perhaps this is what growing older really is. Not becoming less adventurous ... Just redefining the expedition. Yesterday's Everest was the end of my street.