Why didnt I think of this earlier?

While I was in Marks & Spencer yesterday, I hit upon my most brilliant idea...

...to get a low calorie dessert for Saturday night and a high(er) calorie one for Sunday night (to have after I have weighed myself).

Okay so Im only fooling myself!

The Count On Us toffee muffin dessert was really nice, and I will definitely get it again, it was toffee sauce, toffee muffin and toffee mousse mmmmmmmmmmm. The unhealthy (or rather the anti toffee muffin dessert) dessert I got was a Chocolate Overload, and that is super scrummy too ;o).

While waiting for the train on Wednesday morning, I saw three old ladies come up in the lift with a middle aged bloke (who appeared to be in charge), the old dears all had suitcases with them. They went to sit down on one of the benches and I thought to myself at least they wont disturb me...

...then a few minutes later another intake of oldies came up in the lift. Again three old ladies (and again with their suitcases) and the bloke got up to talk to them. I thought well at least they will go and sit down too. But no, the second lot decide to stand behind me and were wittering on about "Mr Smiths gammy leg" and "how Marys son still aint right" and worse than that someone was wearing "eau de Fairy Liquid"

Why on earth would someone knowingly buy bathing products that smell like Fairy liquid. Unless that lady had ACTUALLY bathed in Fairy! You can just hear her reasoning, "if its good enough for me dishes then its good enough for me - look Vera it says it cuts through grease too" Luckily they got on the train to Norwich, as I just know that if they had got on my train then they would have sat behind me!

On Thursday I was greeted by a poster saying that there may be a train driver strike on Thursday and Friday this week, with further ones planned on subsequent weeks! At least they havent got them planned on the Bank Holiday weekend. Mind you they dont want to upset the passengers too much do they. Oh well with a bit of luck they wont be going ahead. Or I may be having a long weekend!

You will be please to know that my brilliant idea worked, well sort of anyway. As I well well chuffed that when I weighed myself this morning I have lost 200 grammes.

you dont say...

It stands to reason that if I take my camera with me to work each day, then I will end up taking more photos, and that is exactly whats happened ;o).

For those of you who were worried about the lack of Vegpots last week, you will be pleased to know that Sainsbury's were back to having the full range ;o). So no more manic searching (read frantically ordering the poor girl who was shelf stacking to go out back to look if they had any more) by me this morning for an alternative! Talking of alternatives, the Bombay Potato I had last week was nice but not filling enough!

I must look like someone who knows where theyre going (or perhaps just not as insane as everyone else ;o))...

... as someone actually asked me the way to Liverpool Street Station on Wednesday evening, as I was hurtling towards the station anyway (I can walk fast when I want to get home ;o)).

I was in Marks & Spencer yesterday deliberating about what yummy dessert to get, and eventually decided to go back to the white chocolate & raspberry cheesecake slices, I had forgotten just how nice they were ;o). Poor James can normally get the rest of our shopping while Im still looking ;o).


see my all my flickr pictures

I weighed myself this morning and have put on 100 grammes! As James pointed out I have walked home every night last week, so its probably muscle. And Im sticking to that ;o)

Go with the flow

The sign I mentioned in last weeks post has since been removed from the window! Quite spooky if you ask me (perhaps someone in Lush reads my blog ;o)).

Friday saw the final of Celebrity Masterchef I think the trophy would have been more in the spirit of the programme had it been edible. I was thinking something like a giant cookie (I could so eat one of those!) James was thinking more of a funnel cake.

If any of you have wondered what half a lamb sandwich looks like, here it is in all its glory ;o)

the flickr picture is here.

I went to the hairdressers yesterday to get my grey coloured in. I was asked the usual questions...

Do you want to go for the same colour? me: yes

Do you want to go for the same style? me: before I contemplated what I was going to say, I blurted out that I fancied going for something different! She then got really excited and handed me three hairstyle magazines.

I then looked through them while I was getting my hair coloured. Looking for styles that wouldnt take much maintenance so to speak. Remembering that my hair has a natural kink in it, I opted for a style that is flicky (as my hairdresser put it ;o)).

I had her in fits of laughter while recounting the story of the Holland & Barrett lady when I got my hair done last time. She then said is that what made you start blow drying your hair? I admitted it was ;o).

You will be pleased to know that the hair wasnt so radical that James didnt recognise me.

I was in Sainsburys this morning doing the big weekly shop, I was down the ready meal aisle, to look for my vegpot and shock horror the only one they had was Spicy Chermoula Tagine, I even made the shopworker who was down the aisle look to see if they "had anymore out back" which THEY DIDNT! What was I going to do? I was at a loss, so decided to look at the other vegetable things they have there and settled for a tub of Bombay Potato. I will let you know next week if this was an acceptable substitution ;o).

I weighed myself this morning and was well chuffed that I lost one pound. Hopefully I will lose a bit more next week as I will be walking home in the evenings as James' good deed has resulted in him having to work til 6pm for the foreseeable future.

so proud

Im so proud of James, he started his new contract job last Thursday...

Talking of jobs (or rather lack of them) I saw this sign in the window of Lush I think this shows just how bad the job market is here in the UK :o(.

Just click on the picture for my flickr pictures

I have been taking my camera to work with me in the hope of being able to film some more people playing the Street Pianos, incidentally I was able to upload the video onto flickr eventually with the help of James ;o). Ironically I havent seen anyone playing the pianos (its like they know!!!).

I took Als advice and had a little tinkle on the piano (even though I cant play), the first time I ran my finger across the keyboard (someone I used to work with was walking past at the time and called me a hooligan ;o)). The next day I was feeling more defiant and gave the keyboard three bashes as I was walking past. The next thing I knew I heard someone else doing the same thing (he gave it one bash ;o)) its good to know I inspired someone ;o).

I found another piece of Innocent Vegpot reading, this time it was on the Spicy Chermoula Tagine

"power lunching

When did you last get genuinely excited about lunch? Was it when Jean Claude Van Damme came over and Brevilled you up a nice ham and cheese number? Were guessing it probably was. But we think we can provide even more lunchtime excitement. Right here, inside this pot. 3 of your 5 a day quick as a flash to heat and eat. Admittedly there will be no Belgian high kicking. But there will be vegetables, good health and good taste. And as JCVD once said "God gave me a great body and its my duty to take care of my physical temple" So please let this pot worship your er physical temple" ;o).

On my train line we normally get air conditioned trains, but shock horror on Tuesday there were problems and I had to sit on a non air conditioned train, it was horrible!

In my bid to get the word chocolate mentioned more on this blog see my wordle, I had today a piece of chocolate with Chili (there are three more pieces in the bar I bought) , it was really nice, the chocolate had a really hot flavour to it - I will most definitely buy that one again).

I weighed myself this morning and was well gutted that I put on two pounds, I cant put it all down to meeting my friends for lunch as I only had scrambled egg on toast, oh well I will see how I do next week.

Street Piano

First thing first...
...before I get told off by Al for not uploading this video to flickr, I have tried uploading this about ten times. Thinking I was probably doing something wrong James tried uploading it too, and it still didnt work. Apparently it is a known error with this type of file!

Anyhow, in my last post I mentioned about a piano having been left in St Helens and wondering what it was about. It is part of Street Pianos, 30 pianos are left around London until 13th July, then the pianos are going to be donated to local schools. How good is that ;o)

On my way to Liverpool Street Station on Tuesday night, on the corner of Leadenhall Street and St Mary Axe, I saw this bloke sitting at the piano, and thought I would wait to see if he would start playing it. There was a lady sitting next to him and I could hear her tickling the ivories. So I got out my trusty mobile phone and recorded it for your viewing pleasure ;o).

I apologise for the poor quality of this video but am going to take my camera with me to work next week, so hopefully I will be able to get something better ;o). Incidentally Wednesday night I witnessed what can only be described as a "classically trained" lady playing the piano. She was really good and was doing all the head movements too ;o).

I had Thursday and Friday off this week, and we decided to go to Westfield Shopping Centre, I just went there primarily for a look around. It wasnt as big as I thought it would be, but is bigger than what we have here in Chelmsford.

I ended up buying a t-shirt from DKNY Jeans, it was in their sale too, so was a bargain to boot ;o).

I must have done loads more walking about than what I normally do, as the backs of my legs were really aching all night!

Friday we went to Southend, just for something to do.

While waiting for my Indian Daal Curry Vegpot to cook, I was looking at the packaging (as you do) and I read this ode to lunchtime on the inside of the sleeve...

"Let us give praise for lunchtime. For it is a time for when work is stilled. Computers flick to screensave, the mouse ceases to scurry and people of the world unite in the need to be anywhere but near a workstation. They may sally forth into a place of fresher air. They may look at a newspaper or favourite tree. Any they may visit the office kitchen to indulge in a veg pot. They may think to themselves "What a lucky soul am I, to be alive on this planet and have all of these vegetables, and stuff in a pot" And then they may go back to work".

I will have to look out for more of these ;o).

While doing the big shop this morning, I swiped the scanner display holder to get my scanner (so i could pack the groceries as I go around) and the lcd display was reading my card number for about two minutes then the screen went blank and started going through what looked like a "reboot". The display about a minute later then was back to normal saying "please swipe your card" or something like that, so I swiped my card again and again the same thing happens. At this point the other people trying to get their scanners are asking "are you able to get your scanner" and I tell them about it rebooting etc. The screen again at this point asks to "please swipe your card" so I do this again and the display now says "you can only have one scanner" *sigh*. I tell the other person who asked what was happening and she says "let me try my card" so she tries her card and it said the same thing! At this point I thought to myself there is no point hanging around I might as well get on with the shopping.

So I am down the fruit aisle and I see someone with a scanner, (and he was scanning his shopping too) where he got his before it all started to reboot. A couple of minutes later I see a lady going behind the customer services counter so I ask her if she can reset my card as I was unable to get a scanner and she tells me "the scanners are out of order". So I tell her about the bloke and his scanner and again she says "the scanners are out of order, Im going to put a notice on them". Then right on cue the bloke comes to the counter and says "my scanner has stopped working". I then had to carry on with my shopping.

I must say having to load all my shopping on to the conveyor belt and packing at the end wasnt as bad as I thought it would be. But I still prefer packing as I go along.

I weighed myself this morning and not only have I lost the 200 grammes I put on last week, but lost another 200 grammes too ;o).

Who on earth is Paul

I finally did my wordle, and wasnt surprised to see that James is prominent, but I have to wonder who Paul is? I even thought I had used the wrong website when creating the wordle! No I definitely used the right one! I also thought the word chocolate would appear in there but not a sausage (mind you I didnt see sausage either!).




click here for the flickr copy

Paul, Paul, Paul? Who could Paul be...


...damn if I keep typing Paul then he will appear even bigger when I do my next wordle!


I actually did something interesting yesterday, I went for afternoon tea with my friends at Marygreen Manor in Brentwood, it was a joint birthday celebration as three of our birthday are close together. It was nice, we had a good natter and ate cakes ;o)


see my pictures here...


I still cant think who Paul is!


I tried another new soup this week at Pret A Manger - Minestrone Soup (pasta, tomato, Savoy cabbage, celery, haricot beans, red wine, garlic, onion, paprika, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme & parsley) it was really nice and filling ;o).


Paul, Paul Paul...


...who could Paul be? This is doing my head in!


Walking to the station the other night I saw a bloke playing chopsticks on a piano in St Helens (this was actually on the street) I wish I had my camera with me as it was very surreal!


Oh, Paul...


...it has to be Paul A Young as in my favourite chocolate shop, blimey thats a relief!


I only have a three day week this week as I have booked Thursday and Friday off - so hopefully it will go quickly ;o).


I weighed myself this morning, expecting a massive gain after stuffing myself with cake yesterday and was well pleased that I only put on one pound (well 200 grammes to be precise) what a result ;o).

a strong cup of me

The train I catch in the mornings (the 7.03) usually attracts contractors as well as the usual insomniacs, on Monday morning a chippie was sitting in the seats opposite to me. We pull into Liverpool Street Station, as I was getting off the train I glanced around to make sure I hadnt left anything and spotted a saw tucked between the seat and the wall! Knowing how much NXEA charge people to return lost property I caught up with the bloke and told him I thought he had left something on the train! I didnt take the saw with me in case I couldnt catch up with him or recognise him - Im normally half asleep at that time of the morning (I tend to be most awake when its time to leave ;o)).

After my good deed that morning, I thought I would have good karma, but no, I get into work and our e-mail isnt working again! Because I work for a small company the IT is outsourced, and their helpdesk inst open until 8.30. Provided Im in (and the trains arent up the creek) then any IT problems will be being dealt with by the time my bosses are in.

On Wednesday & Thursday you could tell there was a tube strike on, there arent normally too many people leaving the station but there were hundreds of people milling about and the bus stops were heaving too! I saw loads of taxis on the road too - I later read that there was a taxi share service arangement (what a great idea).
Earlier in the week James texted me to tell me that there was a new vegpot out. Because I buy all my food for the week on Sunday morning I had to let him eat it as the other one I had was one he didnt like. Ironically the other vegpot he bought (to get the 2 for £5.00 offer) was the same one I had! Anyhow I tried a bit of the sauce and it tasted nice, so I bought one today to have in the week.
The Apprentice final was on last Sunday, and the challenge (which got my full attention strangely enough) was to design a new box of chocolates. I was watching intently (I didnt even notice James dancing around the lounge naked whilst waving his boxer shorts in front of me I tell ya I was that engrossed) when one of the teams was talking to a chocolatier that I recognised. Yes it was none other than Paul A Young the very person who owns my new favourite shop ;o). I went in there on Tuesday to buy some more chocolate provisions, and the French guy told me that they were rammed in there Monday lunchtime and that 90% of the customers were in there after seeing Paul on the show.
While on holiday a couple of years ago I saw a plaque, that really caught my attention - especially with its aptness...
"A woman is like a tea bag - you never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water".
I can say Im a strong cup of tea, although to be honest I would much rather still not know - but I do ;o) Should I be happy or sad about this? Hmm I dont know!
I weighed myself this morning sure as sure could be that I had lost an incy wincey teeny weeny bit of weight, but no I put on 100 gramees oh well...