RELAPSE!

God, the shock!

After my morning swim and an extended weekend, which meant chasing Grace around the house for an extra day, I thought, quite humbly, "Maybe I'll be in the 86's, in terms of kilograms.

89KG

Jeepers! What a terrible number to flash up on the LCD fancy set of scales at The Gym.

I was ashamed. Then came the horrible reflection of the truth. How I had accepted some fried chicken from Oi, greedily scoffed handfuls of Pringles from Grace, drank beer on at least 3 nights in the past week, devoured tender pork from Oi's soup, licked to death not less than 1 ice cream, began putting creamer in my increasing amounts of daily coffee, and perhaps some other trifling indulgences.

Crime. The horror. Guilty of failure.

And bounced back nearly 2 kilograms in less than a week.

That's it. Back to nuts, vegetable chili and juice.

I know relapses occur, and yes, we learn from them, but I was as shocked by my sudden increase as I was by my staggering decrease.

It's back on, this time with no weakness. As I stated earlier, folks and ladies, its a life change. There is no going back, unless, of course, I want to die of stroke or heart disease aged 55. This is the reality.

Creamer, I began when Don brought some to the house. Surfing the Net last night, I came across an article on how dreadfully toxic it is. This morning I threw the bag into the bin.

Enough about me. Europe.

Wonderful scenes of the populas finally giving two fingers to the pressures caused by the banks yet pushed onto the people by the governments. Hooray! Maybe this will be the start of great wheels turning. A shame it didn't come from England, but the French in glorious form, and poor, broken Greece.

Exciting times, and a far cry from the East, where things are very different and strange.

Times here are tightening up actually. Wages are dropping and hordes of fresh faced Westerners turning up, presumably because of zero prospects at home bring nasty Thai schools handing out 8 month working contracts and low wages. Yes....maybe some of the duff teachers will have to move on. Of course, Thailand too, must be careful as other Asian countries offer a better deal.

Oi said that if ever I find myself unable to find work as a teacher, I can always go and work on the farm. A prospect that does not displease me. In fact, viewing the tiny vegetable cropping farms in Stronghold Kingdoms, it does look rather pleasant.