The ongoing WLC

WLC stands for weight loss challenge. There are five of us in this group; all family and international. We have each logged a starting weight and we weigh in once a week on Friday mornings. We started on Jan 1 and plan to continue until the end of June. After two weeks, everyone is doing well but it is early days. I think the companionship will be a great help. We each have little tricks that we can share. Mine is to have a dinner party on Friday or Saturday evenings (after the weigh in) and throw caution to the wind then spend the rest of the week making up for the party and trying for a pound or two down.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELISABETH

Although we were three weeks late, we celebrated Elisabeth's 96th birthday yesterday. We couldn't do it on the day because of the snow. Elisabeth is fantastic. She still works and maintains a busy schedule. She teaches Alexander Technique and was originally trained by Mr. Alexander himself. She is slim and energetic and puts me to shame. It is a privilege to have her as a friend.

Christmas

I missed out on Christmas and New Year but let me report that they were great, especially Christmas. We went to John and Pat in Eastbourne and they provided a wonderful Christmas day. I came home on the 27th. There had been a lot of snow in the couple of weeks before Christmas so I went to Brighton on the bus. It works quite well - coach from the corner of my street down to Gatwick and then a second coach from there to Brighton. The only drawback was not being able to take Harry's present and the case of wine for John and Pat. I will have to make a second trip to Eastbourne with the wine although I used some of it a couple of evenings ago for an excellent dinner party. The dinner was a great success although it threw me way off track for the weight loss challenge. I had decided that January would be a dry month but faced with the coq au vin and other yummy food plus having spent the day getting everything ready, I succumbed to the call of the grape. It was worth it. It is hard to beat Chateauneuf du Pape. I'm back on the wagon and the food deprivation thing again although I had Rosie round today and she begged for a trip to MacDonald's so I ended up eating chicken McNuggets. Whoops. I'll have to starve for the rest of the week. We do our weigh in on Friday morning so I have five days. I won the first week and I would like to keep up the good work.

Roger

My friend Roger died today. I am very sad. I went to his house each week to read to him. I will miss him.

Harry's Birthday Weekend

I picked Adam up on Friday afternoon and he spent the night with me. We drove down to Brighton on Saturday afternoon and went shopping for Harry's present. We had to take Harry with us so he could choose his own Thomas paraphernalia. That done, we crashed with pizza in front of the telly to watch XFactor. Next morning was party day. Adam, Harry and I went to the park to give the Mummies a chance to do party prep. We stopped on the way for some sustenance - see the boys enjoying their Baby Chinos.




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Harry's cake was baked by Mummy Ali but the decorating was the skill and handiwork of Mummy Sian.
Needless to say, Harry was inundated with all things 'Thomas'. That would be The Tank Engine for those who aren't au fait with 3 yr olds.

The Wardrobe-Lion No-Witch Maybe

I finally managed to get myself to Ikea to buy a wardrobe. It was so heavy and large that it had to be delivered even though it was in pieces. There it was, at my door on Tuesday but, because of the size and weight, it would need two people to get it upstairs and then to put it together. "On whom shall I confer this privilege?" I asked myself. As luck would have it, I had a phone call from John T that very day and I promised him lunch if he would come round to take on the heavy labour. He very kindly turned up yesterday and we got to work. I say 'we' advisedly because I did help. We were about half way through when we decided to break for lunch. Of course we had the obligatory couple of glasses of wine with the soup and cheese then got back to work. Well, he got back to work. I sat down and took pictures and giggled a lot. The job is done and it looks good (shut up, Alison you know I will never get over my infatuation with Ikea) and fits the space. I'm well pleased.

John hard at work


If you look at the mirror, you will see me sitting down taking the picture


God bless him. He did the lying on the floor bits

December is here

24 days till Christmas. I'm looking forward to it this year for the first time in five years. I will be in Eastbourne with Pat and John (Sian's family). Rachel also invited me so I am feeling pretty good. It is literally freezing outside. We have snow on the ground; not enough for a snowman but at least I can drive. I'm taking Roger for a scan this morning so driving is essential. I'm still going down to his place once a week to read to him. I enjoy this so much. He always has the London Review of Books or the New York Review of Books and; as I don't subscribe to either, it is my chance for some high class reading. We read an article by Sheila Fitzpatrick on her visits to Russia during the Cold War and I wished I had had Jane with us to say the Russian words and to do a little explaining.