Perception and reality

Aah, on Saturdays in the winter we always have soup for lunch, and thanks to the excess of courgettes in the summer there is a good supply of various courgette soups in the freezer. So long as I remember to take it out soon enough to defrost and warm it up in time for Gus and Toby to eat before they have to leave for football. I hope this show of affection in the form of hot food tempers, to a certain extent, the afternoon spent freezing at the edge of a football field, and my own very evident lack of enthusiasm for this assignment.

This evening was the Mayor's new year party at the salle des fetes, with more gallete de roi and champagne, and some rather protracted speeches about what happened in the village last year and what is going to happen this year. It was great to see everyone again - I do feel that what with christmas and then snow we've been hibernating for rather a long time. I especially love the fact that I am referred to as petite: Françoise from gym 'ma petite Didi' and Philippe, our mayor introduced me to the mayor of Lussac as 'la petite Anglaise' - they don't fool me and the diet starts Monday, but a nice boost nonetheless.

So I was going to talk about this 'diet'. My January horoscope informed me at the beginning of the month that there would be a solar eclipse on January 15th which would "light the house of physical well being, so it would be an ideal time to make any big initiation for improving your strength and stamina." Hurray, so I can continue the chocolate-fest and laziness initiated by the christmas holidays for an extra two weeks. However, today is the 16th, so I should be making the changes now. As luck would have it, the horoscope follows up by saying "wait a few days to begin, beyond the eclipse for best luck, say, January 17 or 18". So, tomorrow I'll decide what to do and start doing it on Monday morning (perfect for initiating new beginnings I find) and hope that the after effects of the solar eclipse offer enough support. I know the main thing I have to do is stop eating chocolate at every hour of the day; also drink much more water - the water is delicious at the moment, so that should be okay. But improving strength and stamina? This is obviously going to involve some rigorous exercise routine, and I'll need to keep it up for more than a couple of weeks. I'll let you know...