A New Unexpected Friend

As my nearly-daily routine, I would go to my gym in the city at night to get some exercise. But, last night, I was pretty occupied with some unfinished business, I went to the gym quite late, at 11 pm. For your information, my gym opens 24 hours daily, 7 days a week (except Christmas of course). So, there I went on my own in the night to my beloved gym.

A glimpse of what my gym looks like

After about an hour and a half at the gym, and full of sweat on my back, I finally decided to head for home. I walked to the changing room and turned the door knob to open the door. To my surprise, the door would not open because normally, the staff would just left the door unlocked the whole day. I entered my PIN number few times and hope that the door would open for me. But, it seems that my effort came to no avail. At that time, I hope that there was a staff still available for me to seek help, but there were none because their working hours is only till 5 pm.

Suddenly, a man tapped my shoulder. I turned around and there's this guy who said to me that the door is actually locked everyday at 12 am and will be opened at 9 am in the morning. I was speechless and stunned by this fact. I could not even call for help because my phone is in the locker inside the changing room. How could a gym that opens 24 hours everyday, have their changing room locked at 12 am? So, basically, the gym is 24 hours but the changing room is not!!

I sat down on a chair in front of the gym, worrying and thinking of what should I do next. If I were to run back home and come here again the next morning at 9 am, it would be extremely tiring and I need to withstand the intense cold temperature outside. Bear in mind, that I was only wearing a t-shirt and my trainer at that time. My second option is that I would just stay in the gym and do some extra work out that night to kill of the time till morning. But, I can't be here at 9 am the next morning because I have promised with 3 of my beloved friends to play badminton with them on the next day at 9 am as well. So, they are my first priority the next morning.

When I was thinking of what my next step is, a person approached me. It was the same guy who informed me about the changing room. He asked me if I was having any trouble. Well, of course I said 'yes' because I don't have any idea how to get home that night. To my surprise, he told me that he would help me to get home by bus that night. I was relieved. How could, a stranger who I don't know anything about him, suddenly came to me and offered me help? I guess, there's still some kind-hearted guy out there.

So, I followed him from our gym to Piccadilly Gardens and took the Finglands bus to home. On our way back home, we talked to each other and get to know about each other a little bit more. His name is Ali and he's actually from Iraq. He's a final year high school student and wants to be a pilot in the future. He actually lives quite near to my home in Rusholme. Even though his english is not so good, I could still understand him perfectly well and he is really chatty. The journey to home was brief, but I could tell that he is a really nice guy. He smiles a lot too and that has made him a lot friendlier. One thing that we agreed that night is that the gym should have posted a big notice about the changing room so that this incident won't happen to others. A lot of Ali's friend have faced the same fate as I had that night before this. But, if this didn't happened, I wouldn't have known Ali, would I?

After we got off the bus in front of Moonlight, I said a million thanks to him for helping me and hopes that we will meet again in the gym some other time. This would be a start of a good friendship. I guess I won't be alone next time when I'm at the gym. ;-)