Police spotting (junction watch)

I can't comment on your mum, but you've said she did weightwatcher and more exercise. That was her choice. But women who are overweight in general feel seriously out of place going to the gym - all the ones I know who wanted to start going dieted to become more "normal" before they were happy to be seen there. When they should have been encouraged to just get fitter and fuck whether they lose weight or not.

There aren't many good examples of people who are fat and fit. I know of a cold water swimmer (places like the Bering Straights) who swims like a fish but is built like a barrel of beef dripping. He was assessed by some scientists who were amazed at his ability to swim in water that should kill him. For what he loves to do, he needs the bulk - even though he looks overweight. He also runs marathons, despite being in the morbidly obese band. But he's seriously healthy - despite being fat. It's not necessary to lose weight to start exercising.

i suppose, but that is quite an isolated case, no? anyway, i don't know enough about fitness vs. weight to comment further.

I am pretty sure no one else is interested but since you ask....
I long ago decided I was not going to end up crippled or dead so that some crappy advert could get from post production to ad agency a little quicker. And I don't care how 'urgent' you tell me it is to get this bag of clothes from a Mayfair boutique to the Belgravia home of a Jordanian princess I am not hurrying. Still, even if I had not made this decision then age and bad knees would have made it for me.
RLJing and pavement riding isn't, in a way, a particularly explicit part of cycle training . It is implicit though in that it is about making sure people have the skills and the confidence to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances. I don't consider a client's desire to have their package get somewhere quicker than it can safely be got there to be a circumstance; it is an element of the exploitation of couriers to be ignored, with a rueful smile at best and with a barely concealed fury at worst.
So, in short, for various reasons I am not a very quick courier but nor am I leading a double life of riding one way and encouraging other people to ride another.

thanks