Thin, we got the trees up and the lights on the two biggest ones, but not the small one yet. Boxes of decorations still sitting everywhere. Work has been busy. I need to get motivated on the decorating!

Here is some footage on one of the LA area fires, some of it taken from the 405 freeway, near the Sunset exit. Thin, you will probably recognize where these were taken since you lived down in So Cal for a while and probably drove around this area. These videos look like a bad dream or Hollywood movie set, but they’re real. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WUWFj-5EzME

Thin, aerial water and anti-burn chemical bombing is pretty common in these types of fires, especially when there are homes threatened, so I would guess, yes. Sometimes, in unpopulated areas of mountains and canyons, they just let them burn themselves out. There’s a whole school of thought about fires being natural occurrences and part of nature’s way of dealing with overgrowth or whatever. http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160722-why-we-should-let-raging-wildfires-burn
I remember driving down there some years ago and seeing smoke and glowing of fires in the distance, from the 5 freeway, that were left to burn. There was no road access to them for miles, in a really rough terrain.

Arelkade. In my part of our Gloucestershire we have a hard frost and snow blizzards forecast for tonight. It will be warmer in the towns but I live on the north facing slope of a steep hill. (north is the cold side in this part of the world). It can work to my advantage – in the late autumn I dig my veg patch roughly and the weather breaks it down for me whilst the frost kills many of the garden pests. A couple of years ago it was colder than usual and a mole spent the winter in my greenhouse. It is hard for the birds. I will put food and unfrozen water out for my Robin. First job this morning – bring logs in from the store and prepare the fire for when we get back from the Christmas lunch. Until then the oil heater thermostat is set at 20 C. Overnight we set it at 15 C. That is probably lower than many people, but we are both misplaced northeners.

Cinque, good to hear from you.

Joffy. Happy to read your post. That smaller clothes size thing is the real measure of success. Up to now buying new clothes has been a chore I could live without, but replacing things that are not worn out but just much too big is a good feeling.

The kefir I put in the fridge before I went away is back out and looks healthy. I may be able to harvest it tonight.

Cinque. Slow down. My surgery was nowhere near as drastic as yours but I quickly learned that you can overdo things. This is one of the few occasions when time is on your side.

Good morning everyone,
another beautiful morning in Melbourne.

Thanks Penguin, you are right, and I really did only overdo it a little bit (because how can you tell until you have done it?). Looking forward to keeping within smaller limits today.

I also overate for the first time post op yesterday. 🙁
Having a good analysis today.

I’m so glad you are away from the fires Cali, but my heart goes out to everyone who is having to deal with them up close.

Best wishes everyone for a good health day.

Cinque, you’re too weird. I’m pleased you have been well enough to overdo things and over eat too! I feel a Cinque fast day coming on …….

When DD was little, I made home movies of just about every occasion. Ultimately, all these painstakingly edited movies found their way onto an external HD which was stored in the safe. Then, one day, I dropped it. Lost years of memories in one careless move. I thought it was gone forever. Then, when having a clean out of the spare bedroom cupboards, I found a box of all the original VHS tapes that I hadn’t realised I’d kept!

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks converting them to digital (again). This has to be done in real time so, as I walk by, I get sucked in watching them. There was a lot footage recorded of sheer wonder on the little one’s face such as when preparing for santa’s visit on Xmas Eve, Christmas Day present unwrapping, birthday parties, etc during those early years. I am so happy to have those memories restored. So, to Lindsay, Cinque, Intesha, Merry and everyone else with little grandies, those times are absolutely so precious and I hope you enjoy every single minute with them.

I’ve been up since 4.45am, thanks OH. Just dropped him at the airport (he’s gone to test fly a feature on a helicopter in Darwin, back home tomorrow) and had my walk early as it’s forecast for 35C today. Isn’t it funny how we’re all experiencing such variations in the wx?

CalifD, I haven’t read your link yet but I expect it’s the same debate we have here every year about bush fires. Areas are graded for risk according to how long ago they burned. I wondered about the use of aerial bombing because I could only see media choppers in the footage. My OH is involved in the bush fire fighting here some years. He doesn’t drop the retardants or water but flies the fire command chiefs about; they make the decisions about what to attack, which aircraft will do what, direct the media and so on. It is intense and draining work for all concerned.

LJoyce, a foot treatment and pedicure sounds like nice antidote to your hobbling. I hope you’ll rest those feet and knees. I hope that garden looks beautiful now! I’ve been skipping breakfast for the past few weeks and miss the Vegemite. I think of it as a breakfast food, on sourdough bread. But there’s no reason I couldn’t have it for lunch instead.

Cinque, that video cracked me up. 😁 Wonder how long it took them to wrap the kids?

Thin, I would not want to be in a plane, flying over any fire. There are a lot of planes, both large and small that drop water and retardants over fires in California. Last year some of them were grounded during one fire near here because of amateur photographers with small camera equipped drones trying to get pictures. I think they should have been arrested. Or the drones should have been shot down. So dangerous to the pilots! There seem to be so many hobbyists who have them now. I have very mixed feelings about them for privacy issues as well as being a danger to small planes.

Penguin, it’s been cold here too. Soup weather again. We keep our thermostat at 20 C throughout the winter and just bundle up a little more in the house. My OH and I used to have thermostat wars, he’s always warm and I’m always cold in the winter. 20 has been our compromise.

Arel, the video reports online and on TV from the southern Calif fires is very frightening. With the high winds recently they can spread so fast. It isn’t just the trees burning those next to them, but embers flying several blocks or more and landing on trees or homes a long ways away. That’s why so many people have been evacuated. I spoke to one of the people I do business with down there whose home is safe, at least for now, but he’s been working from home because the traffic is just terrible on the freeways.

Lindsay, safe travels tonight! I don’t see any recent news about the volcano which must mean it’s still quiet. How sad for all the people there who depend on tourism.

Almost the end of my 2nd FD. It was a pretty easy day. I was at 60.1 this morning so this should put me back in the 59’s. I should make a rule for myself that going over 60 kg means a mandatory FD. I don’t like doing more than 2 FD’s per week, but it might be the motivation I need this time of year. Thin, don’t you do something like that when you hit your trigger weight? LJoyce and Cinque, it seems like you sometimes do a 3rd FD too.

Cali, I try to stick to 2 FD a week as it’s the routine that’s definitely easiest. But sometimes the amount of extras on NFDs just requires that extra FD. Two a week works well when most of my NFDs are controlled – this time of year there fewer controlled days than I’d like. The trick for me is not adding extra FDs too often, otherwiset I eat more on the other days – it’s a fine balance for me. For me the ideal pattern for a 3FD week would be Sunday/Wednesday/Saturday – 3 FDs but 2 NFDs between each of them. The only trouble is it’s pretty limiting for the placement of FDs in the weeks before & after.

That said, I will be doing a third FD this week – tomorrow. I was reasonably happy with my choices at lunch and afternoon tea. But even though my serves were small, some of the things I ate were very calorie dense. I also have to face both a family bunch and afternoon tea with my best friend on Sunday, and I’d rather go into that feeling prepared. My main trick for not eating too much today was to wear a skirt that has a very unforgiving waist band – it’s a firm fit and does not stretch.

The foot spa was pretty nice but the leg massage showed up all of the sore spots from the gardening – that was bit painful. I do feel pampered though, I now have pink glittery toe nails.

My lunch was bean & quinoa fritters with an unusual coleslaw. The flavour was a cross between coleslaw and gado-gado. The shredded veggies were the same that I would use in a slaw, but they had added whole roasted peanuts and also dressed it with a satay sauce rather than mayonnaise. I don’t like mayo, so this was a lovely alternative (I usually just add a vinaigrette). I’d definitely make this satay version at home. In fact with the satay sauce (and not the whole peanuts as well), I think this would work as a summer FD dinner.

Cali, lemon & olive oil is what I add to most salads and I’ve often added it to slaw. (I prefer the milder acidity of lemon to vinegar, and I have a lemon tree.)
I’ll have to leave the fennel to you, anything with a hint of aniseed flavour is a big turn off for me. Basil is about my limit when it comes to mild aniseed flavours – and it’s barely noticeable.
The moment I see star anise on a menu, I know it’s time to start reading the next item. I think aniseed is one of those flavours that you love or hate, although I do know people who aren’t fond of the strongest versions, but still like fennel.

My standard slaw veggies are cabbage (any colour), carrot, celery, red capsicum and sometimes I’ll add spring onion and fresh parsley or thyme. The slaw I had today had both purple and white cabbage, carrot, red capsicum and zucchini. I think the reason they strayed into peanuts & satay instead of mayo was actually to make it dairy free and vegan. They also accomplished a much nicer slaw in the process.

What a story Minka! Hope all else in your life is going this well. Please post again soon!

Good morning,
I love Meyer lemons, but had to give up my citrus trees because of the native citrus gall wasp that decimated them! 🙁
But I buy a lot of lemons, such a wonderful fruit! Especially in dressings!

Minka, what a great post. I am best not mixing socialising with eating, so I would happily do what you did. The bigger and less familiar the social event, the more I am happy to avoid eating! ‘Enjoy being merry’: what a great way to put it.
And much better, if you are going to overeat, to do it at home with your healthy food.

I’m glad your sauerkraut is nearly ready Cali. And I share your love of fennel.

LJoyce you are so busy. I hope your poor leg aches are gone today.
Satay sauce…. yum!

Arelkade I hope you had a lovely time with your dad, and I am glad about the sleeping.

Thin, ha, yes, happy to be weird.

Had a good day yesterday and hoping for the same today.

Cheers all

Hi Pip,
and hi to your excellent husband too.
Welcome.
I agree, there is a big difference between the excitement of doing 5:2 to lose weight. It is exciting with all the small and large goals, getting into smaller clothes etc.
Having it as an ongoing strategy for longterm health just doesn’t have the same feel about it.
However, I have found that it is making it sustainable is really the whole point. Hopefully being part of this little community will be helpful.
It is more humdrum, but actually there are a load of interesting things about making new habits and realising things about old habits and finding out similarities and differences with others.

Congratulations on the 2 kg gone!

Welcome Pip! I work full time and so only write now and again, though always appreciate this group and the wisdom from the members!

Thank you for the responses to my post about FD and staff party! I appreciate feeling you awarding me the medal Cali and your lovely commendation LJ and Thin! I realize that I might not have been able to pull off the party on a FD in the first year of practicing 5:2. Now that I’m 17 months into 5:2, my body is in a rhythm and fasting is part of what I do, like sleeping!

Cinque, great to read that you too would have considered fasting at a party and as you confirmed, I didn’t know many people at the party, which made me feel awkward and what do I usually do when I feel awkward at a party? I eat! So fasting allowed me to bypass that emotional eating response! …Plus in all honesty, like I said, the food served didn’t look as good as what I knew I had at home in the refrigerator, which I did gorge on the next day! Hey, I was hungry!

Cali, also good to read that the Diet soft drinks don’t make you hungry Cali! Maybe then it was simply my lack of sleep from all the caffeine! I admit, I do drink a fair bit of San Pelegrino sparkling mineral water on FDs and I agree about the comfort of the fizz!

I fasted yesterday and my weight was 58.1 in the morning. Woke up this morning and it was 56.7 post fast. This is not unusual for me since I consumer considerable amounts of inulin powder daily (30 grams) which bulks up with water in my digestive tract (and I tend to eat lots of other high fiber foods), so not to get into too much detail, but a post fast weigh in after a worthy emptying can result in a wide variation in weights, though I doubt my fat and muscle percentages really changed that much in 24 hours! So, really, as I may have said before, the number on the scale means little to me compared to my visceral fat level and overall fat and muscle ratio. I’m about ready to get these retested by the Inbody scan. I had them last tested 6 months ago when I first commenced my inulin powder experiment. I’ll bare warts and all with my results. In other words, I’ll post here whether I’m better or worse off than 6 months ago! I wish I could say whether I’ve reduced visceral fat or not, but since it only lurks around my organs, I can’t really know my percentage unless I get a DEXA or Inbody scan and the Inbody is so much cheaper and easier to access, so I’m sticking with that!

My FD yesterday wasn’t as successful for the weight loss as I had hoped. I went from 60.1 yesterday to 59.8 this morning even though my calories came in right at 500 yesterday.

Tonight I went through the freezer and pulled out a bunch of tilapia filets and a bag of those tiny frozen salad size shrimp. I set the Instant Pot to sauté, added the fish and some cut up carrots, celery, 1 potato well chopped, onions and garlic along with 3 tins of diced tomatoes and simmered it all til the fish thawed and cooked along with the vegetables. I also put in basil, oregano, a pepper spice blend, and a little cayenne. Then I added the shrimp and some dry sherry, salt and pepper. It turned out so well! I couldn’t believe how good it tasted after just throwing things in, some frozen, without any measuring. And I used up most of the frozen fish that I had in there from buying packages that had a few too many filets for the meal. The calories were probably low since I didn’t add any oil. I served it with a spinach salad with lemon and olive oil.

LJoyce, I hope you don’t overdo the garden work today. You already have aches and pains from the days before and you don’t want to mess up that pedicure!

PipBrennan, welcome to the thread. I’m getting close to maintenance too, and I can see already that it might be harder than losing. I’m sticking close to these forums where there a lot of people in the same boat, and several maintainers on this thread. They offer lots of good ideas and support. And they show that it can be done. 2 kg in 2 weeks is great! You’re on your way!

Thin, I have a few bean salads that use mostly only lime juice and herbs in the dressing. I really like them too. They give everything a fresh taste.

Cinque, I’m glad to hear you’re recovering well. It’s nice that it’s summer there and the weather is warm. I’m more likely to have to deal with sniffles allergies in the winter than in the summer.

Minka, I’m going to have to read up on the benefits of inulin. Doesn’t LJoyce take that too? How long have you been using it?

FD has gone well, but I opted out of the gardening. I’ve had two pots of tea and mid-afternoon I had one apricot and one nectarine.

For dinner, I wanted to use up some leftover cooked green beans and carrots that I had in the fridge. To keep cooking to a minimum, I added a tablespoon of sundried-tomato pesto, a handful of fresh basil leaves and some grated parmesan and warmed it up. I’m amazed by how wonderful the flavour is. I’ll have to this again some time – deliberately next time. This would also work as a veggie side dish to accompany meat or chicken.

Good morning SHs, hope you are all having a nice Sunday.

For some unknown reason I weighed myself this morning – I’m 0.7kg heavier than I was at the end of November. Even 3 FDs in a week is not enough to keep me stable this time of year.

The family brunch was cancelled this morning, so I went and did the grocery shopping instead (I had intended to go to the supermarket Friday, but in the end I just bought the essentials and put the rest off).

I still have a friend coming to afternoon tea today. I’ve promised scones – but she is always happy to take home leftovers. No temptation left in the house is good.

Thankfully this week is much closer to “normal” with no meals out at this stage. Now I just have to get back into the swing of controlled NFDs.

I’m hoping to get some gardening done before my friend arrives, as I did none at all yesterday. Hope you all have nice plans for your own Sunday.

Thin, did you put some berries or pineapple, or some kind of flavoring in the kefir for OH? We like it plain, but for people who aren’t fond of sour things, fruit can help. I’be read that it’s one of the best probiotics for digestive issues.
Thin, I’m sorry to hear that you are affected by the California fires. What town is your SD home in? You know about this site, right? http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/pub/cdf/images/incidentfile1928_3160.pdf
I see that they have 50% containment now which is pretty good. I hope your home is safe.

LJoyce, the 700 grams could be water. With 3 FD per week it seems like you should be losing or at least maintaining, even with eating out a lot. That sun dried tomato pesto on vegetables sounds good. Did you make the pesto?

Penguin, how did the soup taste? Lamb curry sounds wonderful! Definitely a warming dish. Did you get the Christmas tree up?

We had a lovely dinner with friends tonight. I had chicken piccata with steamed vegetables and a small amount of pasta as a side. No wine for me tonight. I decided not to eat anything until dinner which worked out well. Fasting the first part of the day was easy now that I’m so used to fasting. I think it made tonight’s meal taste even better!

I found some crayfish at the grocery store today, something I rarely see in the grocery stores around here. I’m going to make a spicy broth and then serve them in their shells at the table, which I’ll cover with newspaper beforehand. I’ll make cornbread and corn on the cob to go with them. We’ll start with a big salad. The crayfish is one of those foods that OH says is a lot of work for not much yield! So that part of the meal should be pretty low in calories.
We’ll hopefully finish decorating the trees too.

Hi Everyone
Sorry its been a while since I last posted. (Again! You all know what my New Years Resolution will be, dont you? 🙂 )

Even tho Ive done really well on my FDs Im afraid Ive put on weight this week as Ive been really hungry/had social events/had cravings on my NFDs. I know I overeat on them. I need to post more regularly and be more accountable.
We’ve had a busy week- dinner at friends, my kids and grandkids here for dinner, twilight market.This week is a little busy too but I will fast again tomorrow (after a FD today) We’ve got a granddaughters birthday and OH’s work Chrissy do.

LJoyce, I too got sunburnt today while mowing the back lawn. It wasn’t even that hot.
Calif, Thats a great way to plan for a nice dinner with friends. Im too tempted to have the wine tho. 🙁 How was the Crayfish. I love all seafood!!
Thin, I hope your OH sticks with the Kefir. I want to get started with that too. I bought some and really liked the taste.
Penguin, can you still grow veggies in the snow?

Tomorrow I will do another FD and mow the front lawn- Its quite big and a fair bit of exercise for me as I use a catcher that has to be emptied numerous times. I will also go to pilates. Im making a bolonaise sauce for dinner. The hungry boys will have pasta and us girls will have zoodles. I will only have a little sauce. I find it a bit difficult cooking for 6 adults when fasting.

Goodnight all and Good Luck to those fasting tomorrow xx

LJoyce, what we call crayfish here are much smaller tha a lobster. Here’s a photo: https://cravedfw.com/2017/03/06/2012-dallas-crawfish-primer-it-is-time/

I love your idea of the sundried tomato pesto. I’ve purchased something similar in the past, in a jar, but there was way too much oil in it. Making it myself, I could control the amount of oil. I’m going to store it exactly like you said, in a log wrapped in plastic. I love sundried tomatoes.

I weigh myself first thing every morning. Sometimes there are gains and losses which are probably due to water weight and weighing daily lets me see the variances from day to day and to see that it’s normal, and that not every small gain or loss correlates exactly with what I’ve eaten the prior day. I try not to be obsessive about it and only weigh one, first thing in the morning, undressed.

Stay, good to see your post! Agree that posting here keeps you more accountable. It’s a huge part of the 5:2 success for me. Wine is harder to pass up at parties if you’re the only one not drinking. But that’s seldom the case. There’s usually at lest one other abstainer. And other people really don’t pay that much attention to what we’re eating or drinking beyond a fleeting moment. They’re more concerned about themselves. (Unless it’s your mother who will likely harass you about not eating enough all day. 😁) Hope to see more of you here! There’s strength in numbers!

Penguin, large crops of milk bottles are popular in some California neighborhoods too. 😆

Cinque, sounds like you and Miso had a bit of an eventful night.
It is possible to get catflaps that will only open for your cat’s microchip. https://www.australianpetshop.com.au/shop/products/1380.php Although Miso might need some recovery time before confronted with any new cat flaps. I realise you aren’t finding it funny yet, but just imagining the ruckus had me chuckling.
You are right about the clothes, even my tight jeans still fit easily and I’m still needing to take anti-inflammatories to deal with my sore joints. I probably should have taken my body measurements as well and not just looked at the scales, that might have calmed my indignation.

Cali, I can’t give you an exact recipe for the pesto as I never measure anything that goes into it – I just add ingredients, blend, taste and adjust to taste. My favourite pesto contains: roasted pine nuts, parmesan, fresh basil, garlic, sundried tomatoes, lemon scented olive oil (or extra virgin and some lemon zest). I put it into the food processor (small bowl) without the oil and process. Then add just enough oil to get the texture I want. I definitely use less oil than a traditional pesto as I like it to be fairly firm, because that works best for the things I add it to. I adjust garlic, lemon, salt (if needed at all) to taste. I use the dry sun-dried tomatoes, not the semi-soft or those packed in oil – the dry are a bit harder to find though. I find that when keeping this in the fridge, it only keeps for 7-10 days, but will keep for many months in the freezer. You can also use other nuts – I made it with cashews once and couldn’t tell the difference. You also don’t have to add the lemon flavour – none of the commercial ones have this – I just like lemon.

Penguin, I agree about the frosts. Parsnips are also rubbish before the frost and the best of vegetables after. They go from savoury and woody to tender and sweet.
Like the story about the milk bottle crop. My best friend’s mother grew a magnificent asparagus crop each year and she covered every single spear with an old tin can so that it would be white asparagus. So much sweeter than the green, but not well known here. Our green grocers only sell green asparagus. I think a preference for white asparagus is a European thing, as my friend’s mother was from Slovenia.

In the hot shower this morning I found a new patch of sunburn. Apparently when I was bending over weeding, my top and jeans parted ways and I have a strip of sunburn across my lower back! 🙁

I’m doing another NFD. After yesterday’s overeating I was tempted to fast today, but I think I need to get back into a more normal fasting pattern after fasting Tu, Th & Sat last week. I need a 2 day break before fasting again. Although I have to admit that having Tuesday as my first FD for the week always feels risky – I feel like I’m short on time to squeeze in the second FD. Next week I have a family brunch on Sunday at the Cherry Farm cafe and I’m very tempted to ignore the food and fast anyway. I always feel the week’s gotten off to a good start with a Sunday FD.

I’ve had a very early start to the day as I had to go to Mount Barker and have some fasting blood tests done. I took the opportunity to go to the shops and find birthday presents for the 3 family birthdays that fall in the 3 weeks after Christmas. That almost brings my present shopping to an end. I have just two more gift to buy now.

Have a nice day everyone.

Cali, what you guys call crayfish or crawfish look a bit like yabbies to me – these are fresh water crustaceans that were really common in the river near where I grew up (especially the still backwaters after high river levels had receded). They are a bit bigger than large prawns/shrimp, have harder shells and have much larger claws. We used to spend time catching them when I was growing up, but changes to the water flow in the river in recent decades has made them very scarce. http://members.optusnet.com.au/~alreadman/yabby.htm

Thin, the brunching family members are my Dad’s side of the family that live in the same town as I do (aunt, uncle, cousins + spouses & kids). And no, they are not thin, they are all overeaters and all either overweight or obese – some seriously so. As the Sunday brunch is a regular thing I do, often I decide to just order a pot of tea – especially as we usually return to the same few cafes, so I know if I don’t eat, there will be plenty more chances to try things on the menu.
Thin, maybe you can make your OH some kefir-berry icecream. I really look forward to it on hot days, it never ceases to feel like a treat.

My NFD is being a bit challenging, as despite a good lunch I still feel like nibbling. At the moment I’m trying to distract myself from food.

*it, sorry.

One of our off track subjects: I was reading our Eucalypts, planted all through California, do not help your fires, Cali. Then saw this piece re the traditional burning practices used by the traditional owners throughout Australia to manage the land, including lessening the chance of big wildfires. Was this by chance a traditional practice in the US too?

https://www.facebook.com/FFMVic/videos/1865100830175052/

So glad your US home is safe Thin.

Other off topic follow up: The magpie won Australian bird of the year!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-11/bird-of-the-year-magpie-defeats-teambinchicken/9245242

Best wishes to everyone, fasting and not fasting

Hi Everyone,
Cinque, Im sorry but I did laugh at your cat story. I hope poor Miso has recovered and using the cat flap again for you.
Thin, I think that drink was Pepsi Max- i know its sugar free but dont know about the caffeine- still not something for a toddler!
LJoyce I love the fruity T2 cold as well on hot days.
I did another FD today. I ate a little more than yesterday and also mowed our front lawn and went to Pilates. OH changed what we were having for dinner but I didn’t eat much.
Tomorrow I have my Ladies group over so I have to provide morning tea. Ive made a flour less cake using red kidney beans and cocoa. If you’re interested its a Thermomix recipe but you could use other food processors- just google Magic Bean Cake 🙂 Its my DGDs kinder concert tomorrow night. They are also having a picnic but Im not sure if we will bring food or eat later at home- it should be finished by 7.30pm. It will be a NFD for me but I will not eat too much.
Have a good night/great day all! xx

Thin, your weather has headed east and arrived in Adelaide 35C today and 38C tomorrow, then your cool change also arrives to calm things down again. I actually don’t mind hot days in short bursts. It’s when they hang around for 2-3 weeks at a time that I start thinking about where I want to move to that isn’t as hot.

I watch the BBC news that’s on SBS at 7am. This morning’s big story was the snow that seems to have nearly shut the country down. The reporter was talking about the amount of salt that was being spread and equated it to the number of serves of fish and chips that it could cover – only in Britain would they make that analogy! Hope you are safe and still have power Penguin.

I have just firmed up my christmas plans. I am doing a day trip to the Riverland (about 2hours each way) on Christmas day to have a seafood, BBQ & salad christmas lunch with my sister and her children & grandchildren. Then on boxing day I am having a traditional turkey & pudding christmas lunch with my aunt, uncle & cousins (my dad’s extended family) – these are the rellies that live in the same town as me. As things have turned out they are having christmas on boxing day as my cousin’s children are either working on 25th or doing christmas day with in-laws this year.
It’s nice that I get to spend christmas with all of my family, but not so great that I can’t fast on boxing day, but will be faced with back-to-back feasts. I’m still trying to figure out how many FDs I can realistically squeeze in between boxing day and new year.