chapter 1 january

I’m recovering from a bitter break up over Christmas. I’d been out with Gail for three years. I’d thought she was the one. I had been planning to marry her.
Evidently, she had other ideas. On reflection she had everything her way, without having to make a commitment to me. Although she was in her mid-twenties, she still lived with her mother and did not have to worry about normal adult things. She got up, woken up by an alarm clock, her breakfast and her packed lunch were made by her mother. She went to work, she came home to her dinner on the table.
She did not understand that as well as seeing her and going to work, I had to do my own food shopping, cooking and clearing up. I had to do my own laundry and ironing and keep my flat looking clean and tidy.
I was her bit of fun at the weekend. I could only see her when I’d finished work and completed all my chores.
I was devastated when she first finished with me. I think she’d found someone else more I interesting I think.
Now I am getting used to her not being around. I don’t have to rush around trying to get everything done before she comes round. I can go out when it suits me, go where I want. When I’m out, I can look at what I like and spend as much time as I like out and about. No one criticises my fussy eating. No one watches how much I’m drinking. I could get drunk every night if I wanted to!
I think I’m going to enjoy being single for a while. After all, it’s not good to see someone else straight away is it?
I’m going to concentrate on getting fit and slimming down. Then in six months time, when I’m ready for another relationship, the girls will not be able to keep their hands off my svelte body.
I’ve got an assessment with a personal trainer tomorrow at the gym. The membership is a bit of a financial drain every month, but I can economise elsewhere. I don’t have to go out on dates for one thing. I don’t have to pay for her meals and drinks when we go out. I don’t have to pay for expensive train tickets to go and see my girlfriend for one thing. I don’t have to pay for tickets to the theatre, the cinema or concert tickets. Gail never made any attempt to pay for anything! I was the man in the relationship and as such, she expected me to pay - for everything!

Oh that personal trainer has something to answer for! I can hardly walk I’m aching so much! I feel so stiff after sitting down in the office all day. It takes me a good ten minutes to loosen up again! I suppose it just shows how unfit I am. In six months, I’m going to have muscles. I’ll have the six pack I’ve never had! I just need to persist with the gym work, knuckle under, get my heart pumping and lift those weights. I need to just take some paracetamol and forget my aching muscles!