Thursday 26 February 2015

10,000 page views without the sugar coating

I am persevering in my little lent quest, my fruit intake is definitely rising.

Not quite sure if it's altering my mood, but I think I might just be sleeping a little better.

No scientific evidence for this, just a feeling.

It's been a quite day, I've mainly been cursing government cuts and getting sad about religious extremism.

Milestone

So all there is really to report is my slight excitement that 10,000 people have decided to come and look at the funny little words I write.

That seems like a big number to me.

If each of you could now donate this unpaid blogger a pound I'd be stoked.

Someone once said, if you don't ask you don't get, you see...

Wednesday 25 February 2015

EYE WITNESS Firefighter demonstration outside parliament

The FBU, the firefighter's union gathered today near parliament at 12 o'clock to protest attacks on pensions..

By 12 numbers had amassed to roughly 180 to 200 people, 40 of whom appeared to be waiting outside the pub and accidentally set off a police car alarm.

Attendees were mainly men, perhaps indicating how male centric a profession the fire service remains in the 21st Century.

At the early stages the Essex, Cornwall and Isle of Wight banner could be seen.

In full swing

By 2 o'clock the demonstration was in motion and moving towards the actual parliament building.

Numbers had reached around 500 by this point and by this time the Dorset, Wiltshire and Northern Ireland banner could be seen.

The protest, which coincided with a strike called over a row over fireman's pensions.

A number of placards denounced Penny Mordaunt, a Tory minister as being a liar because of what she had said in parliament about pensions and firefighters fitness.

It is noted that the police presence was notably smaller, almost non existent, compared to the EDL marches a few years back in area.

Tuesday 24 February 2015

Cooking in a time of savoury

Well yesterday ended with me realising one of the fish dishes I made up on my own, for a non chef I was really pleased with that one, would be missing an ingredient due to what I guess I'll call my sugar fast.

Still tasted pretty cool.

Wake me up before you go go

Today started with me in a rush to a meeting failing to remember my vague rules and picking up a Pain Au Chocolat, although strictly chocolate isn't refined sugar and so I will still think of today as a success.

I was also treated to a delightful surprise in finding the instant Chai that I have come to love so much is refined sugar free.

Cinnamon baby, that's all I'm going to say, yum, yum and yum.

Good news on the home front

Teenage pregnancy in blighty is still going down, as is binge drinking.

A cheer for public information ads people, don't you think...

Monday 23 February 2015

Pizza!

I seem to be surviving off a lot of pizza in this no refined sugar world.

I've done a whole day today without:

No wait, you should get the drill by now.

Big promises in little bottles

So I will turn to something slightly, though not really, more interesting.

Shapers Skin Sparkler.

This little bottle of trouble promises to maintain collagen formation and help with the skin and nails.

Pet peeve

Now the words pasted to this little drink mention some great vitamins that I can well believe would do wonders for my skin.

But until I took a mouthful I forgot to check for the ingredient that a lot of these drinks bring along with them.

Sweetener, it pretty much makes all drinks disgusting and even with a no sugar diet for the last few days it is if anything more disgusting.

As far as I can remember they have no real benefit, so I left it and had an apple instead, much nicer.


Feeling uninspired

Saturday saw no sugar or honey consumption.

Though I did eat some coconut cakes, which I do not class as refined sugar.

I ate them in a rush to sustain me through a Beethoven concert, which was quite lovely.

Ended the day craving KFC, which filled a hole but felt like I could taste the water and salt injection.

Quiet days

Sunday had a much better day all round.

No sugar, honey, chocolate or even coconut cakes.

Quite moody by the middle of the day though.

Friday 20 February 2015

Self denial a go go

Today didn't start as well as I'd planned.

I was offered tea this morning, I asked for peppermint because I find it easier to drink herbal without sweetener, I was given tea with honey in it.

I had been meaning to stay off the honey for as long as possible to see how challenging it would be to do it that way.

PM

I have made the end of the day with one dose of honey, no sugar and no chocolate.

I'm feeling fine and have done a lot of transcription and a bit of dancing.

I'm writing up an interview I did last year that I'm hoping to pitch to a magazine or newspaper.

It has nothing to do with sugar.

Politics

There is of course an election coming up and a 'grown up' debate about who should leads our country, but no one is paying me to talk about anything as exciting as who governs the United Kingdom.

Monday 16 February 2015

Speaking nerds, again

The Festival of the Spoken Nerd are touring again.

It's all got a lot brasher and brighter and, possibly, nerdier.

Things have moved on a lot since I last saw these guys.

The experiments have got bigger.

The nerdiness has become nerdier, if that's possible...

I was treated to spreadsheets, maths equations and fire...

Who says science is dull?

This performance came complete with running stenographer text for the deaf and the hard of the hearing, making geekdom even more accessible.

These three musketeers of nerd offer up a unique brand of innocently positive comedy at a time when everyone seems to get a laugh by being more offensive and nasty than the last person.

They invite you to wonder and giggle at the truths and explosions that the march of scientific endeavour has provided us.

Sorry I didn't publish this at the time guys I was having a crisis of unpaid confidence.

A spoon less of sugar

I have decided to observe lent.

Odd thing to touch on at this point what with Chelsea fan racism and shootings in France.

Perhaps I'm retreating mentally.

Then again the government has been driving me nuts and other than a bit of pre-election campaigning there's not much I can do about that state of affairs.

So...

I am going to try and do something about myself.

I'm not a Christian so I've only observed lent once when I was having a crisis of Atheism back in my teens.

Giving up chocolate proved very hard and may have contributed further to how I felt about the whole God stuff, it's hard to be sure.

This time I'm doing it for myself in an exercise in self control, in a bid to strengthen my own sense of self determinism.

Cutting the sweet stuff

The luxury in question is refined sugar, and no I didn't fast on Ash Wednesday.

I'm going to start strict with this and see how I go and do quite a mundane blog of my struggles in the mean time.

This may be very dull, we will see, but it will give me something to hang some writing around.




They're giving you more than a hair cut Britain!

I am not going to delve further into the Hebdo nonsense and deaths that have followed other than to say: try not to kill people.

And move onto a different topic: cuts.

Government cuts

As you sip your water, walk paved streets, cross the road...

Ask not what you're country can do for you, but...

What it might have been doing...

And isn't anymore!