Live for the day

Remember all those women who waved away the desert trolley on the Titanic. Believe me, I'm not going to make the same mistake. It's Christmas, I like food and I'm really going to eat, starting err, tomorrow. I really don't like the word dieting. To me it means doing without lots of self indulgent things in order to lose weight. What I'm trying to do is change the way I eat. Eat and drink less of useless calories balanced with more of the better. The purveyors of fad diets promise a lot but give little, except perhaps a false hope and an increase in weight after the so called diet has finished. All you have to remember is that the bloke who invented the Atkins Diet died early from a heart attack. Well bretheren, here endeth the lesson, 'cos I've got to go and weigh myself because I think I've put weight on again.

***

Guess where I went this morning? To the supermarket again. The sixth straight day in a row. What is it with all this eating? A bit more forward planning wouldn't be a bad idea. Whose idea was this anyway?

***

This afternoon Jan became visibly distressed because she has lots to do to prepare for Christmas lunch and she can't get anything done. There are about 8 people in the kitchen bombarding her with questions and demanding ingredients that they have omitted to purchase and not letting her get on with her own jobs. It's at times like this that I'd start shouting at people but Jan is far too nice. It's 16.40 and I'm here tapping away when they shout (a great deal of simple conversation is shouted for some reason) that they need me to remove a tick from Minnie. There are 4 people hovering around, all examining said tick, and one unsuccessfully using a proprietary tick remover. I get a torch because it is obviously impossible to see what they are doing and I return as they get more excited because the tick won't come out. Shining the torch at the spot quite clearly shows a speck of mud that has attached to her coat and I remove it quickly with my fingers. The moral of the story: when you identify a problem, shed a little light on it (in more ways than one), don't believe everything that you are told, and don't always assume the worst. Works every time.

***

Dinner tonight was cooked by Ben and Paula (from Barcelona, and who also prepared lunch), and Luke and Lydia. Lunch consisted of the choicest Spanish hams and sausage. Dinner was roast pork tenderloin with prunes and dauphinoise potatoes followed by strawberry shortcake. B&P also brought a selection of Spanish Turron to nibble. Yum.