Postal Strike

Admittedly this has not exactly affected me. I am referring to the woeful lack of posts I have made recently on my blog. I guess it is mostly because I have felt so dejected by the fall from my bike, which has brought a temporary halt to all my exercise. To be honest, I have felt terrible. Not being able to swim or cycle has probably felt about as bad as not being able to have a cigarette in the early days of quitting. Whilst I am sure I may have put on a couple of pounds in the three week that I will not of been swimming, I feel flabby and unfit. It is a totally ridiculous concept and in all fairness, I will stop loosing weight soon anyway. The jolt I felt by falling from my bike was obviously an emotional jolt too!

I have, however been busy. I have seen several more shows including the wonderful Aladdin at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and I have scheduled a slew of reviews for the New Year. In the meantime there has been Christmas shopping, with some fun gifts for Sean, Moira and Les; drinks at Rory & Marina's; helping trim the tree at Sean's; visiting Paul's gaff in Peckham for a Christmas party; baking and merry making et al. Tonight I am heading to Highgate for a production of High Society with Jack.

Flying Yellow

I came off my bike on Monday night after swimming. It hurts. Seany gave me sausage rolls and kissed me better. Nuff said.

Advent

...from the Latin, Adventus meaning Coming. My artist friend Howard has taken the idea of an advent calendar and applied it to his own cartoon characters. Badger, part of the Cute But Sad collective, has long been a favourite with discerning readers over the last year and Howard has invited all his artist friends to send in images of Badger in their own style. When asked, I offered a ‘review’ of ‘Badger Ahoy!’, a panto-style stage production of Badger’s adventures. Take a look at Cute But Sad, I am sure you will find it fun.

Christmas is Coming

The panto season is upon us now and naturally I have been out and about reviewing all sorts of shows. Here are a few of my favorites..
Dick Whittington - Another Dick in City Hall
Aladdin
Stephen and the Sexy Partridge
I have several more to do before the year is out including my old friends at Brick Lane, new friends at Baron's Court and unknown quantities at The Union. Stratford East has invited me to their celebrity event next week, which I am looking forward to immensely.

Loosing

I have now been on my diet for ten months and generally everybody has been very encouraging. It seems odd to think that I was visiting my doctor in May and asking him why I wasn’t loosing much weight. Dieting is about time more than anything else, and as my flatmate Jules says if it took you a year to put it on, then it can take longer to loose it safely. Anyway, I had been weighing in regularly at my local pool after my Saturday swim and recently my routine changed. Having established that the scales at Clapham Pool matched Streatham, I have now started using those. This week, even after all my Thanksgiving excesses, I have lost 2 more pounds making a total of 57 pounds. That’s 4 stone 1 pound or 25.91 kilos. I now have only 5 more pounds to loose until I reach my goal weight. To be honest, though, I am more interested in toning up more than anything now. I have found a great website, www.twohundredsquats.com to help me. Eight weeks until Oz and Christmas in between…..

Give Thanks, because you're worth it!

It was all a bit chaotic but we got there in the end. Thanksgiving this year catered for a larger group of friends but sadly lacked a visiting American. The closest I could get to that was Dav’s friend Mauricio, from Brazil – Lord knows what he thought of all of this. The decorations were a little more elaborate this year. Aside from the usual cornucopia acting as a centrepiece and a fireplace download on the television....

I had flowers made from dollar bills…

and specially carved pumpkins.


Highlights on the menu included home-made Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup, made with our home grown tomatoes and Julie’s popular Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Noisettes. There was a delicious homemade cranberry sauce to go with the turkey and Sarah made a mighty fine Pumpkin Cheesecake for dessert. Simon supplied and extensive cheeseboard and I made my own After Dinner Mints. Cocktail flowed with regularity and a good time was had by all. A big thank you to all my guests for making it so special – a toast was said to absent friends.