Thursday, November 18, 2010

A list for the day

  • Molly has a sore head, yelps inexplicably with pain at some moments, is wary of being touched there.  Borrowed time - ten months with no ear trouble - makes us nervous.  Yet she has a cold wet nose, eats with gusto, walks round the plan d'eau very cheerfully, and rubs her face on the ground in her usual 'mad dog'  fashion.  Keep calm, sufficient unto the day...
  • Yoga.  A wobbly new warrior pose.
  • Banana, peanut butter and Nutella toasted sandwich.  I have lost 5 kg since the end of September.
  • Writing a very long e-mail.
  • 'Middlemarch' for the how-manieth time.'Celia could not bear for Mr Casaubon to blink at her.'
  • Trying to answer a question.
  • A low drone, something disconcerting and out of place.  A large wasp wavers across the kitchen, I think it has come out of a log I've put on the fire.  It lands on the cooker hood where with committed violence, I make an end of it with a fly swat.  It is nearly out of the fire and into the frying pan.
  • .A quick Waldorf salad, with the fresh walnuts Marcelle gave me over her fence.  Tom picks them out and leaves a small pile of them on the side of his plate to eat last.
  • Silly Putty has, it seems, become Science Putty.
  • Getting a necessarily short answer to my very long e-mail, but one which is full of the writer's customary cheer and good sense.
  • 'Wycliffe'.  Cornwall looks uncharacteristically pretty, the people seem disturbingly happy, something is very wrong here.  Sure enough, within minutes a dead body is found nailed the the door of their holiday home.  Ah, that's better.  We do like Wycliffe.  They actress who plays Lucy shares a name - both born and given - with my lovely sister, our unmarried name, that is.  She is so watcheable, I can't think why she hasn't been in more things.  She'd be a shoe-in for the role of Maud in AS Byatt's possession, if they were to make a good film out of that.  They did make a film, but I gather it was rubbish. 
  • No wine, peach squash.  I have lost 5 kg since the end of September (yes I know I've already said that). It doesn't show much but I know it's gone. Now if I could get as much off again by Christmas...
  • The work I planned for last time will last two lessons, so no prep needed for tomorrow. Hooray. Still have to get up at six though. 
  • Well, I quite forgot it was Woodwork Wednesday yesterday.  I had some good ones too, but now it will have to wait until next week.  You'll have to have Tropical Fruit Thursday instead, and some Mad Mangoes.  I can do lurid and tacky too, you know.


12 comments:

Kelly said...

Congrats on losing the 5kg, this time of year it is so much easier to go the other way so you have done great.

The Crow said...

I can't say why, but your beautiful mad mangoes make me think of a chorus line at a Havana night club from the 1950s...not that I was ever there, mind - just saw pictures.

Cool post, Lucy.

the polish chick said...

ahem, did you lose the 5kg eating banana, peanut butter and nutella toasted sandwiches? because if that's the case, i think i want in. i once lost a whole bunch of weight and managed to keep it off for half a decade, but lo, there it is again, and i am craving nothing but the sweet sweet taste of carbs, which not only make me gain weight but also make me feel like shite.

congratulations just the same.

Fire Bird said...

originally (circa 1669) it was Potty Putty!

Fire Bird said...

oops! I mean 1969 of course - feeling ancient!

herhimnbryn said...

'Banana, peanut butter and Nutella toasted sandwich'.....

What is this diet? You have lost 5kg in 6 wks? Well done. I have just over 1 kg to lose before the end of the year. (My own goal). Will it go, not it bleedin' won't!

PS great list.

20th Century Woman said...

I'm looking for my copy of Middlemarch.

Roderick Robinson said...

Were he to be reborn, Mr Casaubon would be the world's foremost blogger. No posts thus no comments, therefore potential perfection. It's an attractive philosophy.

Jean said...

Gosh, five kilos in just a few weeks - I'm full of admiration.

herhimnbryn said...

Ps Molly hasn't got a grass seed embeded, has she?

Avus said...

Loved the list, Lucy. We, too, are Wycliffe fans. I think the fact that the stories are disciplined to fit into an hour makes for a pithiness and sharpness that is absent from such as "Midsomer Murders" (2 hours each) which gets sillier by the episode.

Lucy said...

Thanks all, late to reply but anyway.

Regarding the weight loss, in fact with summer and holidays and visitors and eating out rather a lot, I'd put on quite a bit in the last few months, and I feel perhaps it's a case of quickly-on-quickly-off, and I'm only just now nibbling into the weight I was at earlier in the year. I figured it was now or never, with Christmas still a couple of months away, otherwise it just progressively goes on and on like tree rings.

I don't eat many PBB&N sandwiches! Although I reckon the banana counts as one of my five a day, and as such is eaten as part of my main meal rather than as an extra item, as was the chocolate in the Nutella. Actually it was really satisfying and I hardly thought about food again till dinner, which was some fish and the Waldorf salad. I hardly eat any other chocolate, try and keep of wine except at weekends and even then take it easy, though I might have a glass midweek, no cakes or biscuits (not that I had many before), and half-quantities or less of everything for breakfast and dinner, and drastic reduction of carbs in the evening. I haven't banned myself anything completely, just cut back and bargained with myself, and try not to cheat.

In addition I exercise quite vigorously for about half an hour a couple of days a week - weekly yoga and daily leisurely strolling with Mol are not enough.

Oddly, none of it's been too hard, it's kind of good for the morale and I feel generally fitter, in better spirits and that my concentration's a little bit better for cutting back on the wine. Yo-yoing, self flagellation, treating myself as though I'm some kind of hopeless addict for whom it must be all or nothing, especially with the wine, is boring and stupid. If I can take a significant amount off for a while, even if it goes back on eventually is better than nothing, or than giving up on ever doing anything about it.

However, I think that's been the easy bit, it'll be harder to shift the next five...

BB - Yes! keytoallmythologies,blogspot.com - I've just checked it, it's not taken...

Avus - yes, we've said the same thing about Wycliffe, we often can't believe it's only an hour, so much seems to happen. The silliness of Midsomer is surely part of its appeal, mind, I didn't like it that the last one was getting a bit dark and weird, usually it's so sunny regardless of all the murderous goings on... Actually that particular episode of Wycliffe got a bit silly, or rather just weak at the end I suppose, but generally it's quite understated and almost believable as detective stories go.