Day 1707 & 1708 (30 & 31/08/2014)

I started Saturday by sticking to the juice diet but just without the juice. I really don't link them, they are horrible, so I had a banana to eat and some nuts in the afternoon and then went for a swim.

In the evening I eat the avocado whilst I juiced just some apples & pineapple, which was much better.

On Sunday I had planned to eat normally but less so but thought I had better use up the fruit & vegetables we still had left over (there is loads of it), so used the avocado in a 1970's style avocado & prawn salad, which was very nice.

Then roasted some of the beetroot and courgette with some other veggies,

along with the kale & carrots for lovely Sunday Roast.

But I did still have some fruit juice, which was very welcome.

Then fresh fruit salad and natural yoghurt.

Apart from the very expensive juicer & blender I don't think we have wasted any money as I will eat everything that was meant to be juiced.

Rather than having really horrible juices I will just eat healthily during the week and keep going to the gym for the next 20+ years.

Day 1706 (29/08/2014)

Day two of my yucky sludgy juice diet. It started with a glass of hot water with a slice of lime,

which wasn't as nice as the lemon or mint, so probably won't be having that one again.

I made the same juice as yesterday morning but today also used the blender.

I think I was a bit overly generous with my measurements of fruit today and as I ended up with lots more juice than yesterday, which seems cruel.

Time for a swim.

Day 1705 (28/08/2014)

What joy, today I have started my new green juice diet.

First thing was a slice of lemon in hot water instead of tea, which is surprisingly dull.

Then juicing my first juice, turning loads of healthy tasty fruit & salad into a green sludgy drink.

The sludge left behind in the juicer looked quite nice, after all it was just fruit paste.

I think the drink only turned sludgy & horrible because of the algae powder that I added and I didn't have any ice in it. To be fair I only gagged once drinking it.

At 7lb a week I will only need to do this for about another 23 weeks.

Day 1704 (27/08/2014)

The house is a bit quiet today as Kelly has gone back to Brighton and Thomas, after feeling a bit unwell, is at the cricket in Cardiff.

I went to the Doctors as my foot is still really hurting and ended up having an x-ray but it looks like nothing is broken, so ligaments it is then.

My wife is buying loads of fruit & veg today, so I will be starting my green juice diet later, which has already left my body craving chocolates & fried egg sandwiches.

I may have given in (I did) like an alcoholic having one last drink before joining AA.

Day 1703 (26/08/2014)

Back to work on a very wet day and counting down to my green juice diet.

I must get back to going to the gym after a busy, food wise, week in Edinburgh but I've booked to see my Doctor tomorrow as me left foot has been hurting for the last few months.

I'm convinced I've broken a metatarsal but it probably isn't as it's unlikely that I would suffer such a sporting injury.

Day 1702 (25/08/2014)

A very wet Bank Holiday and I was taken on a mystery trip by my wife & daughter, with the promise that I could have a cream-tea when we got there.

Oh what fun :-(

And the tea shop was closed but we ended up in Bude where I had Fish & Chips.

Day 1700 & 1701 (23 & 24/08/2014)

Relaxing weekend, nothing to report.

Day 1699 (22/08/2014)

Great to be back home but several hundred email to catch up on.

Hopefully a relaxing weekend with my family.

Luckily for us Kelly is home on a Friday night, so "Friday Night Is Burrito Night" again, today we had halloumi burrito's, which were fantastic.

Yum Yum Yum.

Day 1698 (21/08/2014)

Our final day in Edinburgh and we were both off to see Mark Thomas and his very interesting show "Cuckooed", a show I can see from both sides but I have always liked Mark Thomas so would never do anything against him. It is basically how BAE Systems, the arms manufacturer got a spy to infiltrate an anti-arms group and betray his friendship with Mark Thomas and others for about 7 years.

Then I refuelled the car whilst Kelly saw a show & had a meeting then we had a good drive home, to get back to Taunton by 11:45pm.

Then sleep.

Day 1697 (20/08/2014)

After last nights late night it was up early again for breakfast but it was worth the sacrifice.

Then much the same as yesterday, at the BBC for a few hours, with a cup of tea & a cake, listening to the radio and spotting celebrities, then off for a play called "Silk Road" about buying & selling drugs on-line. A very good bit of theatre. Then back to the BBC for another break, which included listening to the Kaiser Chiefs rehearse for Simon Mayo's show.

Then off to see a show with Kelly, called "Odessa". It was remarkable, based on some strange 1980's American TV video clips. To describe it as such can't do it justice it was truly brilliant.

Then off to see Al Murray, where I was sat opposite Tony Blackburn, who laughed like Beavis & Butt-head throughout the fantastic show.

Then an even later finish with a show where comedians defend audience members in a mock court, charged with stupid offences. It was quite good fun.

Today's food was a bit more civilised as I had dinner with Kelly, it was a chickpea & chorizo stew, which unlike the rest of the weeks food involved a plate and a proper knife & fork. It was very tasty.

Day 1696 (19/08/2014)

One of the advantages of staying at the Holiday In Express is that breakfast is included, which was very nice.

But one of the disadvantages of staying at the Holiday Inn Express is that you feel you have to get up early for breakfast.

My shows didn't start until the afternoon, so I spent a few hours in the BBC area, where there were nice seats, nice toilets (very important), nice food & drink stands and free headphones to listen to the shows that were taking place in the tent. It was an easy place to see lots of celebrities walking around before and after their shows.

I thought I would have a more refined lunch, so went to the fresh pasts stall for a nice fresh & hot pasta, with wild mushrooms & rocket, with a glass of Pinot Blush.

The glass of wine may have been a mistake as I went to see Richard Herring's theatre show, "I killed Rasputin" which although very good I had trouble staying awake for. After that I went to see Christian Reilly, who is a friend of Richard Herring's and who I have seen a few times. He does a very funny music based act.

After that I went to see "Margaret Thatcher, Queen of Soho", a sort of gay transvestite cabaret bit of theatre, which I had seen a bit of on a BBC Edinburgh Review. It was a fantastic show, with the whole audience joining in and enjoying it. Slightly worrying as I knew the words to all of the songs.

Then off to see Rich Herring's show "Lord Of The Dance Settee". It was a really funny show and the best I have seen him. It is just a real shame that not many people have bought tickets as it appears he wont be back to Edinburgh next year.

Today's food, other than the pasta at lunchtime, was a fresh but quite small pizza,

and some lovely but piggy nacho's with pulled pork as it was a very late finish.

The food might not be healthy this week but it is quite tasty. To be fair although I am missing out on the gym this week I am walking quite a bit and will be starting a horrible green juice diet next week.

Day 1695 (18/08/2014)

Monday morning and we left nearly on time for the 420 miles 8hr drive.

We split the driving but the traffic on the M6 was awful and it took an age but we eventually arrived in Edinburgh. The receptionist at the Holiday In Express said we had a quiet room with a view of the church.

Well it certainly had a view of part of the church but not much else.

Strangely I saw Holly Walsh walk past my hotel a few hours before I saw her show, which was very funny.

After that I saw Tom Price, who was one of Gareth & Laura's best-men. He was very funny.

The food of the day consisted mostly of a "good porking" a puled pork & hot dog deluxe,

and a roast pork bun.

Day 1693 & 1694 (16 & 17/08/2014)

A relaxing weekend, mostly spent slowly updating some training material.

As I was too busy on Friday to go to the gym I went for a swim, my usual 30 lengths, on Saturday after doing the recycling. It was surprisingly quiet at the gym, so I may go on other weekends, for a gently work-out.

Looking forward to Edinburgh next week.

Nice Sunday roast, pork belly, with crackling,

and then fruit filled pancakes.

Yum Yum Yum

Day 1692 (15/08/2014)

Busy day doing a couple of large reports and didn't even have time to go swimming.

Hopefully it should be a nice relaxing weekend and then off to Edinburgh for a few days.

Day 1691 (14/08/2014)

Today I have two moans.

Firstly why are there so many trailers for scary horror films during things I'm watching.

I don't like scary horror films as they are scary & full of horrible things; as are most of their trailers. If I could I would watch all telly on catch-up and just fast forward the adverts but they've also started doing it to on-line things, where you can't do that.

Why can't they show adverts for musicals, I like musicals, I don't like scary horror films.

I think recently there were loads of complaints for a scary advert for planet of the apes (or whatever the new film is called) as it was shown in an advert break during a late night world cup football match, where kids would have been watching; but what about adults who don't like them.

Secondly I believe in environmental issues and think we should be concerned about our world but I truly can't be arsed to split my recycling and do it properly any more. Why can't I bung it all in together and let someone else sort it out.

Plus quite frankly our own personal waste isn't going to have much of an affect unless globally governments sort out the big stuff.

Make all plastic recyclable, if it can't be done pass laws making it illegal to make or import plastics that can't be recycled. We used to have lead in paint on children's toys but after we realised that it was dangerous it was outlawed.

Paper, card, cardboard, shiny or non-shiny its basically paper-ish or card-ish, you sort it out.

I've said it before about American and mass shootings, I know there are too many and they are all tragic but quite frankly I think if we had the same gun laws in the UK we would be having these mass shootings on an hourly basis (certainly we would be in Taunton or anywhere else I am); so really we should admire America's self control at making these tragic incidents only a weekly event.

Day 1690 (13/08/2014)

Feeling a bit run down at the moment. I went to the gym yesterday but only managed about half of my usual routine. I went today but only to swim.

Really looking forward to relaxing away from it all next week and seeing some good shows.

Patience was never a virtue of mine but mine are being sorely tested at the moment.

Day 1689 (12/08/2014)

What terribly sad news that Robin Williams, an absolute comic genius, great actor and seemingly nice guy has taken his own life.

I looked for a picture of Robin Williams to use, it could have been from Mork & Mindy, Good Morning Vietnam or even Mrs Doubtfire but with comedians the photographs that often say the most show them as themselves, usually with a pain in their eyes and an inner personal struggle.

Mental health, depression, suicide aren't about success or the trappings of success, it is about how you feel within yourself and the demons that you carry.

How very sad for his family & friends, who as well as having to cope with the lose of someone they loved they are left with questions that they can not answer because they will never know.

Stan Collymore and Marcus Trescothick speak well about the subject but no-one will ever know unless they have been there.

Recently Stephen Fry talked about it to Richard Herring, its worth listening to, as an innocent question had quite an answer.

Day 1688 (11/08/2014)

Well the effects of the remains of Hurricane Bertha weren't that bad around here but it's still raining on & off quite bad so I'm not going out to put the gnomes back yet.

Doing some stuff in the office and some stuff in the gym. 

Looking forward to next week and being in Edinburgh with Kelly.

Day 1686 & 1687 (09 & 10/08/2014)

A fairly relaxed weekend.

I cut the grass in-between showers and then my wife insisted that I put the gnomes in a safe place in case they got blown about and damaged by the incoming remains of Hurricane Bertha.

I swear she shows more concern for the gnomes than she does for me but thankfully she hasn't insisted that I be shut in the shed for the weekend ........ yet.

In the evening we had a Chinese.

Yum Yum Yum.

Day 1685 (08/08/2014)

Just about recovered from the long drives & early mornings and nicely on top of the work, for a change.

Went to the gym to complete my new routine, which is 10 minutes on the bike, then I'm up to 6 weight training machines, doing reps of 20, 10 and then 5. Then 5 minutes more on the bike and then 30 lengths in the pool.

Then I returned home to a fantastic, ham, cheese & tomato bagel.

During our late lunch we saw a squirrel in the garden.

Also picked up our new glasses today,

which make my wife look even more lovely (if that possible).

Day 1684 (07/08/2014)

Went to give a talk to a load of police officers in the morning.

I kept it fairly light-hearted but very informative and it seemed to be very well received and I might get some training as a result.

Then a very long drive home, which meant I was knackered.

Day 1683 (06/08/2014)

Really busy doing a research job for a client in the morning & early afternoon, then going off to Bedford via Cambridge, to see a friend for a chat. Unfortunately he had already eaten, so we only chatted over a drink.

Then off to Bedford, to a really nice new PremierInn, with a very posh bathroom.

And bought some stuff from a garage , which had an M&S, so had some nice sandwiches and a fruit pot.