It has been more than a month since my last piece. There are good reasons for that: we did get away to lovely Guernsey - a jewel in the English Channel. That explains the first pause. In addition we have been glued to news channels, newspapers, online news, the radio 4 Today programme - yes, even in tranquil Guernsey. Unsuprisingly Brexit has caught our attention.
While others were queuing to vote on June 23rd we were sunbathing on white sands in the bailliwick of Guernsey, a non-EU member, having used our postal vote on June 3rd. No resident of Guernsey had a vote, of course. The BBC online news stated '... The Channel Islands are not part of the UK.' We learned a lot - more than we wanted - on that fateful day.
I watched the results of the referendum until 4.40 a.m. I hardly slept thereafter as the news was not what I wanted to hear. I hadn't voted for Brexit. I felt PM David Cameron should not have called for a referendum and should not have allowed Nigel Farage - an MEP who wants the UK to be independent - the oxygen of publicity.
Friday's newspapers, on the 24th of June, revealed little as they had gone to press well before that fateful hour. At approximately 4.45 am the Brexiteers had gained too many votes for the Remain camp to be able to overtake them. The papers could only report on this in the Saturday editions - the day we travelled back to Bath. One of the very few pleasing elements in the post-EURef gloom is that Bath voted to remain. I was going home to a city where there weren't huge swathes of unemployed, poorly-paid, poorly-educated people who wanted to leave the EU. ( According to Professor Curtice of Strathclyde University such groups of people were more likely to vote to leave the EU.) I have taught for many years in depressed areas - people's lives are stresed - their finances pinched - their opportunities reduced. I would be less likely to meet people who shouted racist abuse at migrant workers. Bath has two universities.
( Professor Curtice suggests graduates generally want to remain in the EU). Many under-graduates and comfortably well-off post graduates reside here. Our local shop is run by an Asian couple who come to our parties; he is a graduate. Frequently we are driven in a taxi by a chap from Turkey and other times by a young man from Iran. A good friend of mine is Mexican, another is a Bulgarian post-graduate and the host for our Brasserie Writers. A third is from Sierra Leone and yet another is Latvian, also a post-graduate. I would be horrified if any of them were told 'to go home' now that the Brexiteers have 'won' the vote and we are to leave the EU. But Facebook is full of stories of racist verbal attacks. The EURef has unleashed a level of nastiness I can't remember since seeing graffitti shouting 'Blacks Go Home' in the 1960s.
I am fortunate to be living in Bath. It is indeed largely populated by an educated population who, if not wealthy, are comfortable. Of course Bath has its non-graduates and its poorer areas. I haven't been back from Guernsey long enough to chat to people I know who live in social housing. How did they vote? That conversation is yet to be had. Would their attitudes be in line with Professor Curtice's findings?
To move on from the immediate post EUref commentary I need to return to my title: Pause - Brexit - Pause
We are now in the second pause phase.
This pause is universal. The world holds its breath. As if some rocket launch had knocked planet earth out of its orbit, causing it to hurtle off its axis, crashing into the sun, the notion that the UK will leave the EU has had cataclysmic effects. And our parlimentarians don't seem to know what to do next. I would think the rest of the world must be looking at the UK in astonishment: a) how did we come to decide to leave the EU and rock financial certainties and securities? b) what on earth are we doing about it? Surely losing our PM and his Chancellor of the Exchequer, losing two-thirds of the opposition party and rumours of losing Scotland from a non-EU UK must look to other nations as if little England is suddenly nothing bigger than Guernsey - and, in parts, far less beautiful.
One French journalist had commented that if the UK were to leave the EU it would be no more important on the world stage than Guernsey - which is doing very well - but he had a point. How long this pause will last is anyone's guess. No-one has a plan for who, what, when article 50 is triggered.
I have been scouring the press for some inkling but until today journalists have analysed voting patterns and causes. I will write about that in my next entry. Meanwhile back to the pause.
Tuesday, 28 June 2016
Wednesday, 25 May 2016
Roller Coaster
Thankfully Richard had some excellent news about his early-stage prostate cancer cells. All readings were normal - so the radiotherapy has blasted them away. A bonus has been he hasn't had any ill effects either. Well done the Royal United Hospital Bath. We were so pleased with the help he's received we raised money for the RUH from his Open Studio over May Day weekend. A win-win situation. If the weather holds we can raise a bit more at our garden party on July 2nd. A percentage of the proceeds from sales of Richard's prints and cards will go to the RUH funds for the new cancer unit. It cost £8 million+ and so much has been raised they 'only' need £1 million+ now.
So that's the good news.
That's the down ride on the roller coaster - the fun bit. But the hard slog up to the top of the ride has yet to be achieved. We are very slowly trudging up to the pinacle. Mum's house is - as I write - having a trench drilled through the drive, garage and conservatory. Why?
After months of negotiation with mum's insurance firm my brother has managed to get them to see that the cracks in mum's bathroom, kitchen and above the landing are caused by root damage from the massive trees on the field next door. The foundations are being weakened - slightly - just enough to create structural problems. Last month a result; the trees have been lopped in half. Equally important soil samples showed roots from said trees had broken water pipes and upset the water table under mum's house - hence the cracks. So now the pipes are being replaced. Hoorah! But it'll take another year of monitoring the fissures to see if the damage has been stopped - or if the cracks in the brickwork are continuing to widen. A new kitchen and bathroom are waiting to be installed in mum's house. It may take yet another twelve months before work on those installations can even start.
But it's been a very sad few days as mum's health has deteriorated such that she barely has the energy to speak. This is largely, though, in her own hands. If she drank more water, tea or juice she would revive. One nurse even mentioned bringing in the hospice and instituting end-of-life-care. So we were upset to hear this. My brother is having to travel north - and is exhausted - visiting a member of his wife's family in intensive care. What a terrible few days. We thought we would have to cancel our Guernsey holiday and my brother still doesn't know if he should go away this weekend and have his early summer break.
So we sit in the buggy on the roller coaster waiting for good news: we want to plunge on the down-rides and have some excitement - away from the doom, gloom and difficult situations. Our short holiday in Devon, in full sunshine, was upset by health news. Let's hope the next time we see mum she's got some strength back, is drinking and can hold a conversation without being so depleted of energy. "Where there's life there's hope" has never been more pertinent.
So that's the good news.
That's the down ride on the roller coaster - the fun bit. But the hard slog up to the top of the ride has yet to be achieved. We are very slowly trudging up to the pinacle. Mum's house is - as I write - having a trench drilled through the drive, garage and conservatory. Why?
After months of negotiation with mum's insurance firm my brother has managed to get them to see that the cracks in mum's bathroom, kitchen and above the landing are caused by root damage from the massive trees on the field next door. The foundations are being weakened - slightly - just enough to create structural problems. Last month a result; the trees have been lopped in half. Equally important soil samples showed roots from said trees had broken water pipes and upset the water table under mum's house - hence the cracks. So now the pipes are being replaced. Hoorah! But it'll take another year of monitoring the fissures to see if the damage has been stopped - or if the cracks in the brickwork are continuing to widen. A new kitchen and bathroom are waiting to be installed in mum's house. It may take yet another twelve months before work on those installations can even start.
But it's been a very sad few days as mum's health has deteriorated such that she barely has the energy to speak. This is largely, though, in her own hands. If she drank more water, tea or juice she would revive. One nurse even mentioned bringing in the hospice and instituting end-of-life-care. So we were upset to hear this. My brother is having to travel north - and is exhausted - visiting a member of his wife's family in intensive care. What a terrible few days. We thought we would have to cancel our Guernsey holiday and my brother still doesn't know if he should go away this weekend and have his early summer break.
So we sit in the buggy on the roller coaster waiting for good news: we want to plunge on the down-rides and have some excitement - away from the doom, gloom and difficult situations. Our short holiday in Devon, in full sunshine, was upset by health news. Let's hope the next time we see mum she's got some strength back, is drinking and can hold a conversation without being so depleted of energy. "Where there's life there's hope" has never been more pertinent.
Monday, 18 April 2016
The Digital Age - passwords - grrrr
So - using email, texting, using your own printer, making your own photographs - it's all so convenient, and quick. Yes, for the most part, that may still be true. But what about this scenario?
A fortnight ago I was inundated with emails from someone who said I was using her email address. I had inadvertently used it once - because icloud wanted me to use another email address other than my own as icloud, or was it Apple? id. So many fruitless hours fiddling and talks with Apple later I signed in, changed my password and signed out. No problem. No problem? It took over 2 days to get all that sorted.
Another scenario. I tried to use my ipad to air print with a printer my aunt uses. I had her password but forgot to change my wi fi password once I got home. So which password is this then? Yes I had travelled home, I had sorted things at my mother's house, I had visited her in her nursing home three times in two days. I was tired and had a cold. Thankfully I have the sky hub password on my iphone and it's clearly labelled on the new hub. But how do I change it to a memorable password? How many more wasted hours were spent trying to sort that? I did get my ipad connected to the internet again but no luck with sky hub password change. That only took 24 hours fiddling. Then I went down big time with some flu-like symptoms. No surprise there then.
Tonight my iphone won't receive emails and I buggered my ( very old) printer which kept referring me to 'documentation'. If they mean the handbook that would take another day of searching ... Thankfully, despite the fact I had only 4-5 hours sleep last night, by pulling out a few cables, switching the printer on and off, then switching my lap top from which I was trying to print, on and off, the thing finally starting printing again. I'm sorry but each of my devices, in some way or other, needs a great deal of time spent on them.
Yes I have got them all running again but why do we need so much knowledge and time for these semi-expensive gadgets? Meanwhile I still haven't seen TV I recorded from Sunday night. Perhaps if I use my ipad for itv player it might let me watch The Durrells? Or do I need a password for that too?
Meanwhile I'll spend ages trying to get the thing to work and,guess what, I still won't have seen the programme. Time consuming or what? I thought computers worked for us - not the other way round.
Grrrrrr
A fortnight ago I was inundated with emails from someone who said I was using her email address. I had inadvertently used it once - because icloud wanted me to use another email address other than my own as icloud, or was it Apple? id. So many fruitless hours fiddling and talks with Apple later I signed in, changed my password and signed out. No problem. No problem? It took over 2 days to get all that sorted.
Another scenario. I tried to use my ipad to air print with a printer my aunt uses. I had her password but forgot to change my wi fi password once I got home. So which password is this then? Yes I had travelled home, I had sorted things at my mother's house, I had visited her in her nursing home three times in two days. I was tired and had a cold. Thankfully I have the sky hub password on my iphone and it's clearly labelled on the new hub. But how do I change it to a memorable password? How many more wasted hours were spent trying to sort that? I did get my ipad connected to the internet again but no luck with sky hub password change. That only took 24 hours fiddling. Then I went down big time with some flu-like symptoms. No surprise there then.
Tonight my iphone won't receive emails and I buggered my ( very old) printer which kept referring me to 'documentation'. If they mean the handbook that would take another day of searching ... Thankfully, despite the fact I had only 4-5 hours sleep last night, by pulling out a few cables, switching the printer on and off, then switching my lap top from which I was trying to print, on and off, the thing finally starting printing again. I'm sorry but each of my devices, in some way or other, needs a great deal of time spent on them.
Yes I have got them all running again but why do we need so much knowledge and time for these semi-expensive gadgets? Meanwhile I still haven't seen TV I recorded from Sunday night. Perhaps if I use my ipad for itv player it might let me watch The Durrells? Or do I need a password for that too?
Meanwhile I'll spend ages trying to get the thing to work and,guess what, I still won't have seen the programme. Time consuming or what? I thought computers worked for us - not the other way round.
Grrrrrr
Friday, 8 April 2016
How do I get the balance?
A few weeks back I wrote the final chapter of my novel. I hasten to add I'm not especially ecstatic, more mildly pleased, as it's only draft one and I know how much editing will be required, even though, in essence, the work is complete.
It begins in December 1918, just after the end of WW1 and the novel ends in France just before the outbreak of WW2, in September 1939. England has declared war on Germany, but France hasn't entered the war.
In some ways it would be easy to think my novel is about the inter-war years. In fact it's a tribute to the relatively few women who got the vote in 1918, and who forged ahead, in difficult times. They lived and worked through The General Strike, The Depression, during a time when there was a lack of free health care, non universal secondary education and poor contraceptive choices. The women who voted for the first time in Britain in 1918 had to be thirty and either married or householders in their own right. In my novel the central character is Eliza. She got the vote in 1918 and succeeds with none of the advantages of modern times.
I have spent something like six weeks working on these last 20,000 words. The whole is now 92,000 + words. I am pleased to have achieved writing the novel but my social life has gone through a down turn, I haven't been swimming for three weeks and I seem to have spent a lot of time behind a screen!
However I have managed a Creative Evening, my Writers' Group, pub quiz and Book Group. We are planning a garden party in July so we are prepping the garden in readiness. I feel I have had a busy few weeks but tomorrow - ah tomorrow - I have promised myself a day of rest. This will include a walk, sensible eating and other physical exercise, but no sitting behind a screen, growing roots through the cushions on my sofa, nor typing at my desk. Perhaps I should be like Barbara Cartland and have a secretary. That way I could dictate my novel, get up, walk around, do step ups and get fit while getting my novel written. Or maybe I could speak into a voice recorder while I'm going out for a jog. Either way there is a tension between the creative urge and the need for physical activity. One feeds the other but both areas of my life seem time consuming.
Our next plans are for the Open Studio at the end of this month. That also takes a lot of planning. Cards to label and package, bio in the brochure, paintings to be framed, prints to be made. I also plan to bake cakes and biscuits to raise a little for the Cancer Unit at the RUH. It's all laudable, creative planning. But again it doesn't help me keep fit!
Perhaps I need to invent some form of exercise I can do while planning other things. But in order to invent a new form of exercise I will have to sit down and come up with some scheme. Back where I was. The tension between brain activity - or creativity - and physical activity. I am physically lazy but mentally active. How do I get the balance?
It begins in December 1918, just after the end of WW1 and the novel ends in France just before the outbreak of WW2, in September 1939. England has declared war on Germany, but France hasn't entered the war.
In some ways it would be easy to think my novel is about the inter-war years. In fact it's a tribute to the relatively few women who got the vote in 1918, and who forged ahead, in difficult times. They lived and worked through The General Strike, The Depression, during a time when there was a lack of free health care, non universal secondary education and poor contraceptive choices. The women who voted for the first time in Britain in 1918 had to be thirty and either married or householders in their own right. In my novel the central character is Eliza. She got the vote in 1918 and succeeds with none of the advantages of modern times.
I have spent something like six weeks working on these last 20,000 words. The whole is now 92,000 + words. I am pleased to have achieved writing the novel but my social life has gone through a down turn, I haven't been swimming for three weeks and I seem to have spent a lot of time behind a screen!
However I have managed a Creative Evening, my Writers' Group, pub quiz and Book Group. We are planning a garden party in July so we are prepping the garden in readiness. I feel I have had a busy few weeks but tomorrow - ah tomorrow - I have promised myself a day of rest. This will include a walk, sensible eating and other physical exercise, but no sitting behind a screen, growing roots through the cushions on my sofa, nor typing at my desk. Perhaps I should be like Barbara Cartland and have a secretary. That way I could dictate my novel, get up, walk around, do step ups and get fit while getting my novel written. Or maybe I could speak into a voice recorder while I'm going out for a jog. Either way there is a tension between the creative urge and the need for physical activity. One feeds the other but both areas of my life seem time consuming.
Our next plans are for the Open Studio at the end of this month. That also takes a lot of planning. Cards to label and package, bio in the brochure, paintings to be framed, prints to be made. I also plan to bake cakes and biscuits to raise a little for the Cancer Unit at the RUH. It's all laudable, creative planning. But again it doesn't help me keep fit!
Perhaps I need to invent some form of exercise I can do while planning other things. But in order to invent a new form of exercise I will have to sit down and come up with some scheme. Back where I was. The tension between brain activity - or creativity - and physical activity. I am physically lazy but mentally active. How do I get the balance?
Tuesday, 8 March 2016
Birthday Weather on International Women's Day
As my birthday is in mid-March the weather is usually sunnier, the flowers brighter and the days longer - all much better than in the previous months of January and February. And, despite having come out of a relatively warm, wet season - in other words a mild winter - it suddenly feels like a cold, bleak run up to my birthday.
Yesterday a gang of us went to the Thermae Spa - in splendid sunshine - and we came out feeling invigorated and rested all at the same time. After that lovely experience we saw more friends for a drink in Bath - then went out to a local pub. A great day all round!
Today, however, has been grey, cold and uninspiring but, thankfully, the narcissi are still flowering - despite their early blooms in January - so their yellow petals have enlivened a dreary day.
Please, please can we have sunshine on my birthday? We will be in Devon then and I'd like to enjoy the sea air - not have three days feeling cooped up. It is spring now, isn't it?!
Despite the dull skies this morning I enjoyed opening my birthday cards and making plans for a garden party in July. This includes arranging two or three musical entertainments for the evening. By then it should be warm and light at night and we can sit out lapping up wine, food and live music. Perhaps I am simply too impatient and want to celebrate my birthday in the sunshine - in warm, spring days - we need them after a wet, overcast winter. Everyone felt so happy in the sun yesterday - and now we are back to the gloom, it seems.
I am, however, pleased I have completed 70,000 words of my novel and that puts a spring in my step. I have two major scenes to write. It seems fitting that, on International Women's Day, I can talk about my novel, which opens in 1918 on the day some women in Britain got the vote. I am preparing chapters on The General Strike and details about Jennie Lee, a great inspiration to other women, who, initially couldn't afford to go to university, but was helped, left Edinburgh University with a degree and became an MP. Another scene I have yet to create is of another kind of woman altogether. She was wealthy and well connected until, in 1939, she had to flee Italy, where she had led a a very comfortable life. Her life becomes impoverished, whereas my central character, through steadfastness, prospers. I am reminded of the weather that day in 1918 - when eight million married women got the vote - "it had been an uncommonly warm,wet winter."
Yesterday a gang of us went to the Thermae Spa - in splendid sunshine - and we came out feeling invigorated and rested all at the same time. After that lovely experience we saw more friends for a drink in Bath - then went out to a local pub. A great day all round!
Today, however, has been grey, cold and uninspiring but, thankfully, the narcissi are still flowering - despite their early blooms in January - so their yellow petals have enlivened a dreary day.
Please, please can we have sunshine on my birthday? We will be in Devon then and I'd like to enjoy the sea air - not have three days feeling cooped up. It is spring now, isn't it?!
Despite the dull skies this morning I enjoyed opening my birthday cards and making plans for a garden party in July. This includes arranging two or three musical entertainments for the evening. By then it should be warm and light at night and we can sit out lapping up wine, food and live music. Perhaps I am simply too impatient and want to celebrate my birthday in the sunshine - in warm, spring days - we need them after a wet, overcast winter. Everyone felt so happy in the sun yesterday - and now we are back to the gloom, it seems.
I am, however, pleased I have completed 70,000 words of my novel and that puts a spring in my step. I have two major scenes to write. It seems fitting that, on International Women's Day, I can talk about my novel, which opens in 1918 on the day some women in Britain got the vote. I am preparing chapters on The General Strike and details about Jennie Lee, a great inspiration to other women, who, initially couldn't afford to go to university, but was helped, left Edinburgh University with a degree and became an MP. Another scene I have yet to create is of another kind of woman altogether. She was wealthy and well connected until, in 1939, she had to flee Italy, where she had led a a very comfortable life. Her life becomes impoverished, whereas my central character, through steadfastness, prospers. I am reminded of the weather that day in 1918 - when eight million married women got the vote - "it had been an uncommonly warm,wet winter."
Monday, 22 February 2016
5:2 and all that
Yes - another 21 days and I'm still managing the 5:2 diet.My jeans seem tighter than ever and my weight goes down after diet-day then back up on ordinary-meals days. Am I doing something wrong?
My diet days consist of:
porridge - with hot water and blueberries* ( which are not exactly the same as bilberries ) 148
small green apple* 40
1 hot cocoa. 22. (210 subtotal)
soup - 1/2 a pot* 100
salad*. 20
another green apple*. 40
1 or 2 nairns oatcakes with fruit. (1) 44
1 or 2 boiled eggs and more salad. (1). 70. (484 subtotal)
Lots of water
Blueberries for a snack*. 8
Late night cocoa. 22 (514)
* my five-a-day
I'm still swimming and walking. Hopefully moving furniture and gardening count as exercise as it's rained so much it's been impossible to do anything but short walks some days.
The 5:2 diet does train your body to eat and want less - but I've yet to see this on the scales!
My headaches seem better this month but I have had a few days off as we had to go to see the family - eating habits changed somewhat!
Snippets
My office now has its desk in it. That's furniture moving par excellence. So I have to get on and finish my novel. No more disturbances now!
Condor Ferries managed to completely change their timetables - 3 months after we booked. So we are now on less good seats and having to be at the ferry in Poole by 9.15 on day 1 of our Channel Islands trip. To avoid complete exhaustion we have booked a B&B 5-10 mins away from the ferry.
It's been gloomy out, no ice, but such a lot of cloud and rain. Bring the sun herewith!!🌞
Had enough of winter. Thank you so much ...🌞
My diet days consist of:
porridge - with hot water and blueberries* ( which are not exactly the same as bilberries ) 148
small green apple* 40
1 hot cocoa. 22. (210 subtotal)
soup - 1/2 a pot* 100
salad*. 20
another green apple*. 40
1 or 2 nairns oatcakes with fruit. (1) 44
1 or 2 boiled eggs and more salad. (1). 70. (484 subtotal)
Lots of water
Blueberries for a snack*. 8
Late night cocoa. 22 (514)
* my five-a-day
I'm still swimming and walking. Hopefully moving furniture and gardening count as exercise as it's rained so much it's been impossible to do anything but short walks some days.
The 5:2 diet does train your body to eat and want less - but I've yet to see this on the scales!
My headaches seem better this month but I have had a few days off as we had to go to see the family - eating habits changed somewhat!
Snippets
My office now has its desk in it. That's furniture moving par excellence. So I have to get on and finish my novel. No more disturbances now!
Condor Ferries managed to completely change their timetables - 3 months after we booked. So we are now on less good seats and having to be at the ferry in Poole by 9.15 on day 1 of our Channel Islands trip. To avoid complete exhaustion we have booked a B&B 5-10 mins away from the ferry.
It's been gloomy out, no ice, but such a lot of cloud and rain. Bring the sun herewith!!🌞
Had enough of winter. Thank you so much ...🌞
Thursday, 21 January 2016
Celebrations
We had a jolly home-grown Hogmanay with friends who live locally. A great start to 2016.Another party at the beginnning of January was fun too, and enlightening - it always is when meeting new faces. I can also celebrate my self-discipline, aswell as my indulgence! I have got back my swimming bug, and we walk to shops or into town instead of taking the car. So exercise is taking more of a priority - and it has to! Soups are the great lunchtime mainstay - so nutritious and no empty calories. A balance in all things. Must look after the body as well the indulgences. In so doing I have tinkered with the 5:2 diet.
Having tried the 500 cals fast as part of the 5:2 diet I realise that may be a bit harsh for me - don't want to trigger migraines - but I can up it to 600 calories and see how I go. 1300 calories seems reasonable for dieting but experts suggest 1000 per day would be counter-productive. I then read 2000 calories a day is usual for a healthy woman. May have to rethink the 5:2!! Food and me. Either eating far too much 🌭🎂🍗 or hardly anything at all 🍒🍏🍲 !
I do love fruit and salads, which is good, so I couldn't quite see the point of the 500-calories-diet leading to the abandonment of the 5-a-day rule.
Far too confusing for little ol' me. If I lose a stone in weight I'll be happy - but can't risk having migraines. So must be sensible. However that new year's resolution is 21 days old and is sustainable - so I hope I'm still swimming, walking and losing weight in another 21 days.
Speaking of celebrations: we going away to Guernsey for my 60th birthday but for the actual day itself we will be in a lovely room with a balcony overlooking the sea at Sidmouth. There is a spa and warm pool in the adjoining hotel so that will be fun. Topaz cottage in Sidbury has been reserved for us at a discount so that can be our 35th wedding anniversary treat. I hope as many girl friends as possible can join me in the warming waters of the Thermae Spa just ahead of my birthday - a party without the catering and clearing up!
In the summer the family are coming from London, the Midlands and Cornwall, we hope, to join us for a summer-time BBQ and more celebrations.
So that's the first six months of this year taken care of. Better do some writing during the rest of 2016.
I lack discipline! I just have too many things to celebrate. But can that really be so bad?
💻. 🖨. ⏱. 📒. 📖. 📝. Or 🍾. 🍰. 🌞. 🎷. 🍓 🎤
🏊🏻
Having tried the 500 cals fast as part of the 5:2 diet I realise that may be a bit harsh for me - don't want to trigger migraines - but I can up it to 600 calories and see how I go. 1300 calories seems reasonable for dieting but experts suggest 1000 per day would be counter-productive. I then read 2000 calories a day is usual for a healthy woman. May have to rethink the 5:2!! Food and me. Either eating far too much 🌭🎂🍗 or hardly anything at all 🍒🍏🍲 !
I do love fruit and salads, which is good, so I couldn't quite see the point of the 500-calories-diet leading to the abandonment of the 5-a-day rule.
Far too confusing for little ol' me. If I lose a stone in weight I'll be happy - but can't risk having migraines. So must be sensible. However that new year's resolution is 21 days old and is sustainable - so I hope I'm still swimming, walking and losing weight in another 21 days.
Speaking of celebrations: we going away to Guernsey for my 60th birthday but for the actual day itself we will be in a lovely room with a balcony overlooking the sea at Sidmouth. There is a spa and warm pool in the adjoining hotel so that will be fun. Topaz cottage in Sidbury has been reserved for us at a discount so that can be our 35th wedding anniversary treat. I hope as many girl friends as possible can join me in the warming waters of the Thermae Spa just ahead of my birthday - a party without the catering and clearing up!
In the summer the family are coming from London, the Midlands and Cornwall, we hope, to join us for a summer-time BBQ and more celebrations.
So that's the first six months of this year taken care of. Better do some writing during the rest of 2016.
I lack discipline! I just have too many things to celebrate. But can that really be so bad?
💻. 🖨. ⏱. 📒. 📖. 📝. Or 🍾. 🍰. 🌞. 🎷. 🍓 🎤
🏊🏻
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