ConstuningInterest
Keeping Fit
By LESLIE ADRIAN
A CORRESPONDENT Who wants to be able to take physical exercise in a gymnasium with- out having to pay fees to a health emporium for slimming courses and the like asks where he can find the right kind of facilities in London. All he wants is what he calls an occasional slight work- out at five or ten shillings an hour.
There's a fairly considerable feeling among the physical-recreation people that this kind of exercise is not much good ('it's purely psycho- logical,' they say) and that my correspondent and others like him would be better off doing something competitive and enjoyable like squash or judo or whatever. There's another (prone) body of opinion, to which I subscribe. that asks, 'What are you getting fit for?' However, my correspondent seems to know what he wants and I've been trying to find out where he can get it. In terms of value for money he can do a great deal better than five shillings or ten shillings an hour by joining the YMCA, Great Russell Street (MUS 8954), for an annual fee of only £2 10s. to four guineas. (The rate increases with your years.) This will give him the free use of a gym- nasium from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily and he can have expert tuition if he wants it. He can also have weight training, judo; , fencing, wrestling, basketball, badminton, rugby and soccer training, swimming and life-saving, table tennis and billiards. All these are without charge except badminton and billiards. Classes are held each evening from 6.15 to 10 and the facilities are available all day. There are changing rooms, and showers and you can hire towels.
If it's more convenient for my correspondent he may find that the Lucas-Tooth Gymnasium, 26 Magdalen Street, EC1, would serve his pur- pose. I don't know exactly what it provides apart from the gymnasium and a cafeteria. I've tele- phoned them five times in the past week (HOP 3240) and have had no reply. Perhaps you'd like to try yourself, Mr. Divert'?
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There are in London, and for all I know in other cities in Britain, certain large stores specialising in the sale of women's shoes which have an inexplicable, irritating habit I refer to 'Just stag the mouth, you idiot!' the apparently well-established custom of sta- tioning a senior member of the sale., staff near the entrance to the shop whose duty it is to ask the question, 'Can I help you, madam?'
Upon being told 'Yes' this official steers the customer to a seat and walks away. After some delay—it might be minutes, it might be a quarter of an hour—an assistant arrives and asks a version of the same question. If the customer was foolish enough to give exact particulars of her needs to the senior official she may sit bliss- fully for some time in the expectation of being offered some choice of shoes. She may even dis- miss importunate salesgirls with the information that she is being served, thank you.
I would merely warn her that she is not, and ask of this branch of the retail trade that they discontinue a practice which has become an empty courtesy that is almost an affront.
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