For the whole month of November I will be donating my top lip to charity and growing a moustache in aid of Movember, an event that raises funds and awareness for prostate cancer. All participants start clean-shaven at the beginning of the month and then nature takes it’s course.

It’s all a bit of fun, but it also raises awareness about men’s health, something which isn’t always talked about, especially by men, so if you see a more than usual quota of men with moustaches in November then you know what’s going on.

If you would care to donate any money to this then visit my page on the Movember site and give whatever you can. I’ll also be updating it with photos of my progess and you’ll be able to see how silly I look!

If you are a man…with a spare face, then why not register? Women can also register too!

So if you can spare a couple of quid then please donate to this worthy cause.

I never actually recovered from my throat infection which I got the initial symptoms of on 11th February, so basically I’ve been ill since then.  It cleared up a bit but then I came down with something worse and on 22nd Feb I was diagnosed with tonsillitus and it’s taken me until Monday 1st March to recover from that.

I had some time off work and cocooned myself indoors, took my antibiotics, watched TV, and that has been my life for the past week. I fell ill due to not eating properly, not getting enough sleep, getting too stressed, and generally not looking after myself properly.

I am better now and thought I’d better post to the blog to let you know I’m still around. I’ve not actually missed blogging so we’ll see when I blog next (cue blogging loads).

I hope you are all well.

I only ever have pancakes once a year, which actually amazed Jenny (an American whom I’m sure has them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner), but yesterday I made some and it made me wonder why I don’t have them more? The fact is that it’s probably good I don’t have them that often as they are gorgeous and had 3 to myself yesterday (with lemon and sugar).

The throat is feeling a lot better now but I still have white spots on my tonsils so still some way to full recovery but lots of soluble aspirin, throat spray, and throat sweets are doing their job. I’ve not got much else to blog about yet so bear with me.

I thought I’d better make an appearance on the blog to let you know that I’m still alive (just) and am almost fully recovered from a throat infection I’ve had since Thursday. A couple of days off work, plenty of rest, and copious amounts of over-the-counter drugs seem to have done the trick.

Along with the throat infection, other symptoms were fatigue, aching joints, and also mouth ulcers, which seem to point to my body just getting a bit rundown. More rest and more healthy living is called for I think.

The other week I wrote about how I’d been cycling to work as part of my Targets for 2010 and I thought I’d give you an update.  Last week I didn’t cycle at all, but this week I have so far cycled in twice, which I think makes up for missing out on last week as my aim was to ‘Cycle to work at least once a week’.

Here are dates so far that I’ve cycled to work:

• 18th January 2010 (4.8 miles)
• 19th January 2010 (6.3 miles)
• 20th January 2010 (4.8 miles)
• 2nd February 2010 (6.3 miles)
• 3rd February 2010 (4.8 miles)

n.b. The days with 6.3 miles are when I cycle to 5-aside football after work which takes me on a detour.

Bloody ankles! I went along to Sunday football today, had a little knock-about whilst the team were warming up and it didn’t take long to get a pain in my ankle to signal that they are not better yet. I sprained the right one before Christmas, and then did something weird and muscular to the left one a couple of weeks back. I was hoping they would be fine as I’d been getting through 5-aside, maybe taking a knock on them, and then being able to run that off after a few minutes. A boggy grass football field is no substitute for the flat surfaces of a sports hall and so it shall be a couple more weeks before I think I’ll happily run on grass.

On a positive note though, I started a book for our football tour so that people can start paying in a few quid every week and then have less  hassle when it comes to summer as most of the costs will be paid. We haven’t had any big tours (weekend away/piss-ups) for a while now, so it’s good to start planning with 6 months to go, and will also mean that we should be able to get more people to come along.

The team had a cup game today and won 2-1, although it was very close for the last 20 minutes and we almost threw it away. Nice work lads.

Now that the snow has gone, my ankles are feeling much better, and my car is at the mechanics, it has been a good time to get one of my ‘Targets for 2010‘ started this week and that is No.4:

4. Cycle to work at least once a week – I like cycling, I am only 2.4 miles from work, so I should cycle more. Yet again it’s that simple.

I cycled in yesterday and also today which is certainly better than just driving in which is what I normally do. I put it down as one of my targets as I need to do more exercise, need to spend less on petrol, and also want to cut down on my carbon footprint.

There’s also an added bonus. I’m having showers at work in the morning so I’m saving on my water and gas bills!

I’ve added a new page to the blog imaginatively called ‘Targets for 2010‘ (see top menu) where I’ll be able to give updates on how they’re coming along.

It has got a little boring around here hasn’t it, and who really wants to know what ‘s been going on with me? Yes it looks like it’s going to be one of those posts whichs goes on about having nothing to write about, which rambles along, and then actually turns into a post. Or not.

Tom posted a list of ‘Targets for 2010‘, and clearly defined them as “not new year’s resolutions” which is probably the way to go as I would say that New Year’s Resolutions usually have some negativety attached to them rather than being something positive to aspire to e.g. Give up sweets, drink less alcohol, etc.

So I might as well put a few targets on here, and see if I can complete any of them, and just like Tom I’ll try and keep you updated as at least I can always come back to this post as a reference.

1. Decorate spare room – I have a room that is currently storing junk, but which needs to be fully decorated (plastered, painted, carpeted, etc).

2. Pay off credit cards – I’ve currently got £2439.30 on my credit cards which is mostly debt I racked up whilst renovating the house having spent the majority of my savings on my deposit (plus some other bits). It is interest free until May, so I’ll try and get rid of some of it and then find another interest free card to transfer over to.

3.Lose a substantial amount of weight – OK, this is always in there. We know what needs to be done, so just do it.

4. Cycle to work at least once a week – I like cycling, I am only 2.3 miles from work, so I should cycle more. Yet again it’s that simple.

5. Take more photographs - and ones that other people may find interesting.

6. Visit more places - Okay so quite wide-ranging but I now have a ladyfriend who I would like to take to places other than Thanet.

That’s it for now then, and we’ll see how things go.

I told you before how I’d been ill but also had to work a lot of hours a few weeks back due to the new intake of freshers, well I’m not looking for sympathy as there has been an upside to that too. Not eating much whilst also burning lots of calories has had the effect of shifting a bit of weight off me. Obviously not eating is not the healthisest way to lose weight but it did put me on the right road and I’m happy to say I’m still losing weight.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve lost over half a stone and I’ve done this by serveral ways:

• Eating less: I’m not eating breakfast. I know they say it’s the most important meal of the day but I really don’t feel hungry at that time, and if I do eat something then it usually end us making me hungry and I can’t wait until lunch! At lunch I’m having something small like soup or a sandwich, and then at dinner I’ll have a large meal cooked by myself at home into which I know all the ingredients.

• Working harder: I am actually putting in more effort at work. Don’t get me wrong, I worked hard before but doing more makes the time go quicker and keeps me interested. When I’m bored I may snack.

• Playing harder: I normally play sports two times a week (1 hour of 5-aside football on a Tuesday & 90 minutes of football for my Sunday League side) but I’ve now added several other aspects into the equation with rugby training on a Monday evening, and also walking a lot more. I find myself walking into town now for lots of ‘small shops’ instead of just driving to Tesco for a ‘big shop’, and this has allowed me to eat a lot more fresh food as well as feeling good that I am putting a little bit back into my local town.

So although I’m eating less and exercising more it still hasn’t changed my lifestyle and I would wouldn’t say that I was on a diet. I still go out for beers at the weekend, and may even relapse and have a kebab, but I reckon I’m not doing too bad and fingers-crossed that I can keep this up. I’m feeling better, apart from aching from rugby, and I’m also looking better which clothes a little less snug and the weight loss obvious in my face. I would love it if “this time” was the time when I could shift my excess weight and drop a couple of stone, and for that reason it will be the last time I talk about this on this  blog as I don’t want to be under any pressure and am not putting a timescale on this.

Just don’t offer me any cakes…..

*[Fitter Happier - Radiohead]

Hello strangers, I’ve been absent from here due to me working silly hours at work and also being ill at the same time. Freshers arrived at Uni on Sunday and this coincided with me being ill from Wednesday evening and only just getting better today, whilst still having to work lots which isn’t the ideal way to get better.

My hours this week have been:

Sunday: 10am-12:30am = 14.5 hours

Monday: 8:30am – 3:30pm + 5pm-12:30am =14.5 hours

Tuesday: 9am – 5pm + 6:30pm – 11pm = 12.5 hours

Today: 9am – 5:30pm +6pm-9:30pm  = 12 hours

So there we go 53.5 hours done already this week, bad enough when fully fit but when you’re ill it’s even worse, but it seems like I’m almost fully recovered. Ideally I would’ve had some time off but at this crucial time of year that just wasn’t possible and I had to work through it which probably meant a usual 48 hour bug instead turned into a 6 day illmess  which coupled with stress and anxiety meant very bad things for toilets everywhere and has meant I haven’t eaten much (not always a bad thing as I’ve lost a bit of weight!).

So I’m feeling better now and am a lot more relaxed too as proven by the shear fact that I’ve been able to leave work early and was home by 10pm this evening.

I don’t get overtime at work but get to take time in lieu so in a couple of weeks I should be able to have a day off here and a half-day there and try and get my hours back down.

Anyway.. I’m off to relax for a bit before getting some well earned rest, and then it’s back to work again tomorrow with dreams of the weekend.