Stand on two feet

I wear a pedometer and keep a record of the number of steps I take each day. In the last month the daily number of steps has ranged from 308 to 7397 with an average of 1715.

Expert opinion reckons that, for good health, I should take 10,000 steps per day! There is a shortfall. I should walk more.

Today I feel inclined to acknowledge bipedalism.

I am human and I stand and walk on my back pair of limbs (legs and feet). This leaves the front pair of limbs (arms and hands) free to carry things. What kind of things? Tools. It would have begun with hunters and gatherers.

When hunting you need tools for

• killing and butchering (you need sharpness)
• carrying the meat back to base camp (poles and string)
• carving and cooking (knives and fire)

When gathering you need tools for

• pulling down high branches
• digging for roots (sharp sticks)
• containing and carrying the harvest (baskets with handles)

These days we hunt for bargains in supermarket aisles. Then we gather them in baskets or in trolleys for easy movement through the check out and the car park and into the boot of our car

OR – more recently, we can do an online shopping and the man in the van delivers the goods straight into our kitchen.

In olden times there was no option but to use our legs and feet - and fitness followed. In modern times there is the option of being a hugely unhealthy couch slouch with lack lustre limbs. I should walk more.