Flabby_Abbie

I bust the zip on my favourite pair of cords this morning as I was trying to do them up (I have several pairs, all the same size (8), but this one has always been tighter than the others - go figure as our Yank friends would say)) so I thought "Bugger it! I'm going to sign up for the gym again!" Now, because I am disabled (and on disability benefits) I qualify for a 30% discount off the Gold membership (and only the gold membership - they won't discount the silver, so much for the tagline being "Accessible fitness for every body"; the Gold is £50pcm, the Silver, £35. The difference between the two is that the latter is off-peak only (between 9 & 7 and all weekend), so the discount makes the Gold £35pcm. You can pay for an entire year (£550/£385 concession) but I can't really afford that much up-front.

I was all ready to fill in the membership form, when something hit me - transport! Now, I don't drive (because I don't have a licence but, even if I did, I couldn't afford to run a car) so I am reliant on public transport.

So, I did the sums: - if I was to go just 3 times a week each session would cost me £6.62 (£2.92 for the gym + £3.70 for the return bus ticket). Multiply that by 12 (for the number of sessions every 4 weeks) and the total monthly cost is an eye-watering £79.44! If they offered concessions on Silver membership (which would make it £24.50pcm) then it would still be prohibitive at £68.94pcm.

No-one has believed me when I said that I couldn't afford gym membership - now you understand why. It's got nothing to do with the gym, but the cost of public transport. I have a friend, who lives in Manchester and she's on the same combo of benefits as I am; she qualifies for free bus travel under Manchester City Council's rules. I, OTOH, am governed by Bucks County Council and I do not. The rules here are ridiculous (I've spoken to the bloke in charge of travel concessions and he has confirmed what I am about to tell you). The rules state that, to qualify, you must be in receipt of DLA higher rate mobility and/or be blind, deaf, dumb, 'mobility impaired' or, and this is the most ridiculous bit, have a learning disability.

When I spoke to the bloke in charge of making the decisions, I asked whether someone who was dyslexic would qualify and was told "yes". Now, before you all start jumping on me, I know that dyslexia can be a condition that can blight someone's life quite severely (I have a friend whose youngest brother is very severely dyslexic - and I mean very severely - yet he is the MD of a large(ish) firm making very precise technical components and he earns a very good salary, i.e. his disability hasn't held him back, because he's not allowed it to. Yet, under BCC's rules, if he lived round these parts, he would qualify for free travel). Indeed my Manchester friend is severely dyslexic (but she qualifies due to the fact she has early-onset arthritis) and she didn't believe me when I told her that a dyslexic would qualify (she would never dream of using it as a mitigating factor for free travel) but I would not. She didn't see how being dyslexic alone could prohibit someone holding down a job and not being able to pay for transport.

And it doesn't appear that the dyslexia has to be very severe; provided the person applying had a certificate stating that (s)he was dyslexic, they'd qualify. Whereas I, suffering from BPD (which does prevent me from holding down a job) does not. The ironic thing is, if I was in receipt of DLA mobility higher rate, I'd be able to afford the bus fare anyway (lower rate is about £17.50pw, higher is 2.5 times that).

I have spent the past hour crying in frustration because I can afford the membership fee! I would do ANYTHING to get down there again (it's rather too far to walk, though - and I'd be knackered by the time I got there!) as I feel that, if I had an instructor guiding me - or someone who knew what they were on about - then I'd be progressing (rather than going backwards as I am now).

My weight (or rather flab) is the bane of my life, and the cause of much of my depression. I would much rather be in a gym, with people to motivate me and push me because I know that, left to my own devices, I'm guaranteed to fail. I need instruction.

I don't expect anyone to be able to help, I just feel so angry, frustratedand miserable.

Sarah