I never made it to Glastonbury but I did go to Megan Fayre in rural Wales and I’m pretty sure it was this very one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ErSNbENm5c

It was bright and sunny and there was no mud but what I most remember was the combination of high-fibre food – lentils, cookies (sometimes with a special naughty ingredient) – and having to find a discreet ditch in which to…. let’s not go there!

BTW I’m not much good at many things but I do speak French and Spanish quite fluently. I’m most proud of an incident that happened back before we joined the EU and French people still needed a work permit.

I went for a bi-lingual job in the City of London and was interviewed in French by a Frenchman, who also tested my English and French shorthand. I was rubbish at English shorthand, something I had never been able to grasp. However, while working in France and French-speaking Switzerland, I had devised my own speedhand which worked well.

The great moment came when the French gentleman lost his rag and yelled at me, telling me I was obviously a French woman without a work permit and I should get out of his office and stop wasting his time. Needless to say on shutting his office door I punched the air with a great big YES!

Hi Speedy,

On the subject of loneliness, it sometimes worries me that my emotional self-sufficiency and love of solitude will one day backfire and that I shall find myself really lonely.

Fortunately, I’m married to a loner, although when necessary he can do the sociable life-and-soul of the party bit which I simply can’t, for which reason I tend to avoid social gatherings and my friends and family have learnt not to even invite me. I have a small number of very good and trusted friends, some of them going back 30 or more years, but I can only manage them one at a time. None of them knows any of the others.

Paradoxically, while being painfully shy, I can stand up and give a presentation to a room full of people and really engage their interest and even be complimented on my ‘presence’ and relaxed, confident style, as happened at uni a few weeks back. Maybe it’s something to do with being small. At parties and the like, I used to be literally ‘overlooked’ and even had the odd elbow in the eye when trying to circulate and join a group. Not to mention some smarty-pants saying ‘I didn’t see you down there’. Great for the morale! At least with a presentation everybody is looking at me and, at least to begin with, prepared to listen.

Hi Hermaj, Goodness I can relate to a lot of what you wrote – almost want tp claim my 5 pounds because you are in fact me! Both my husband and I (now I sound like Hermaj!) were fairly solitary people; happy with just each other and our dog. Enough friends but one at a time, love that, but in crowds, I don’t know, it seems so false somehow. I suspects it’s to do with how we are slightly different people with others so (some of us at least) can’t cope with people en mass because we forget who we are. It feels like that to me anyway. Perhaps people enjoy crowds are less chameleon than we others are; perhaps they stay themselves?
Also my friends also hardly know each other, many live in other countries in fact! And also I enjoyed talking to large groups of people when I was in work. But that was my professional persona and not really me. I knew who that was! With the ‘real’ me, it’s much more fluid!
I remember those work conferences where the hotel put those round, high tables out for coffee etc. At 5’1′ only my head and neck were above the table standing there! And the Dutch are reputed to be the tallest nationality!
Elbow in the eye? Yes! Often! 🙂
But in my real life I had the amazing good fortune to meet a fabulous man and we were together for 25 years until he died. I know that is much more happiness than many have so I have been very fortunate. Getting used to life without him, even 4.5 years on can still be a struggle. Although I am OK most days. xx

Bonjour Femme Anglaise, Jan :), Wow that was brave to move alone to a new country. I know people who live alone and do enjoy it. That’s what I’m trying to learn. And I have got better at it over the years.

Going back to what I was writing to Hermaj, I do feel that part of the proble I have with learning to live alone is that I am a chameleon. I see it as a positive thing, being able to adapt to the others around me – being admin in a large fb group is an example when it’s really useful as the members are many and vaeryvarious so seeing their points of view comes in handy! But it has the drawback of really missing the other person. I now that sounds a bit unhealthy maybe. That you change who you are according to who you are with; some people take over the accents of the people they are talking to! It’s not to do with not valuing yourself, it’s just so enjoyable to interchange yourself with another person – as long as it’s the right person of course.

Love that image of you with a growing group of cats in the middle of France. 🙂 Good luck with fasting. I love/d it as a way to loseweight and be healthier. Finally I’m hearing on the BBC that sugar is at last being recognised as a dangerous substance and more so than fat. xx

Hello everyone.
I love the silver tea by the pint of course. LOL
Hermajtomomi. I agree that there are a lot of nice things that are welsh and wonderful, I am proud to be welsh. My son was born in Gosport Hampshire and I tease him that he is Engilish.
I have booked my weekend away and will be leaving some details for BooBoo when I get the confirmation email.
I have been playing bowls this afternoon and the rain stayed away, it’s a B2B fast today and tomorrow so I am feeling a bit iffy a bit of a sore throat it’s this British summer weather.
Good night all
OW’s and DW’s JIP

You’re right, Cheeseplease, it was old Jean-Paul Sartre in his play ‘Huis Clos’ (No Exit) who said: ‘L’Enfer, c’est les autres’.

I often feel that there are some people who measure their self-worth by the number of people they can surround themselves with. Maybe there’s something inside the likes of you and me, and our lovely cyber-friend Speedy who has posted above, that makes us feel no need for this sort of mass approval.

Join in? Cheer-up? Tell me about it! I prefer to meet friends one to one so that we can concentrate on each other and really talk. Even though I and all my close friends are partnered by delightful men, the foursomes are comparatively rare.

This same aversion to socialising, as well as working alone as I still do, caused me to meet the lovely guy I’ve now been with for 28 years – only four of them married – via Time Out’s Lonely Hearts column. No man would have had the slightest interest in me if he’d met me in a group situation. I would have been the silent, boring one sitting in the corner and wishing she was somewhere else. Likewise with the exception of one much-loved niece-in-law who has married into the family, I’ve met all my women friends while working or studying, not at social gatherings.

When we did finally marry, we had a very quiet ceremony, just us and and two friends as witnesses. Then instead of a reception we took individuals, couples, families or small groups, such as two close colleagues and their other halves, separately to a restaurant of their choice. It worked wonderfully. We were able to have civilised conversations rather than yelling at each other over the racket of a reception.

Although it wasn’t the main intention, it also worked out very much cheaper than shelling out for all the wedding-day stuff that I would have hated. The bride would have been found in a quiet corner reading a book and wishing they would all go home!

Clare and Daisy and any other newbie,
Don’t forget to keep a diary that includes: measurements, exercise, food, water, weight, BMI and whatever interests you. There are so many weighs ( pun intended) to measure your success on 5:2. Measure your waist, chest, boobs, upper arms, upper thighs, hips. The biggest thrill by far was when my chicken wings totally vanished. Followed closely by the reappearance of a waist that had been buried for years 🙂
Strength yo you, today and in each future fast day.

Good morning/evening LOACAs

Goodness – what a wonderful happy bunch of new recruits – welcome! There’s plenty of room on this wagon of intermittent fasting and even if we fall off (as most occasionally do), the lovely ladies on this site keep our place for when we want to eventually get back on. They also continue to cheer successes and commiserate in our backsliding.

I had to laugh at the comment that diets always start on Mondays – so true. However the wonderful thing about the IF way of life is that in between the two challenging fast days, there are five where no food type is forbidden. Since IF and after nearly 20 years of being overweight/obese my relationship to food has returned to something less than obsessive. I’ve always thought that one the major failings with most diets is that they require one to focus on how much/little we are allowed to eat, when what we should really be doing is thinking of something else entirely. On fast days I achieve that most of the time 🙂

Hi Hermaj and Speedy. The discussion on loners struck a chord with me too – I’m also the one sitting/standing in the corner at parties. I hate straining to hear over the din and prefer a quiet more personal conversation over coffee or a meal. I also married one so, while we socialize, it’s rarely with any more than four others around our dinner table. Speedy, I really feel for you, I don’t think more than 4 years would do little for me than maybe dull the ache a bit. OH and I have been married 44 years and I have no idea how I’d cope if he wasn’t around.

Hi Karen250463 – is that your birthday? It’s my day and month too but 17 years earlier. In Australia it’s ANZAC Day, a public holiday, so have always had a day off for my birthday.

Hi PVE – what a lovely compliment from your Italian tailor. Some men never lose that charm. I work with an Italian/Australian and he’s just the same, always has something complimentary to say. Makes me feel like I’m walking on clouds.

Usual fasting Monday and Tuesday for me. Good to get back into self-discipline. Although didn’t overeat much since last fast day, I had lots of bread and the scales showed it this morning. I made some lemon jelly and had to try it on fresh bread.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Hi bayleafoz

Totally agree about not doddery. I intend to age disgracefully!

Yours does sound like a fierce fast! Breakfast seems a long time ago of 210 calories (small water-only porridge, an orange and black tea). Looking forward to tomato-based pasta sauce (no pasta for me) for dinner. Only black tea and water in between.

Home time in 1.5 hours. At least the sun has come out.

Hi Cheeseplease, Speedy and Jan,

Isn’t it great how when we post about a delicate subject like we have done, we find others – in this case piper and NickyF – who understand and sympathise? 🙂

I’ m about to disappear for the rest of the day as the day job beckons. Cheeseplease, I’m delighted that you also had a quiet wedding second time around. I tried for the same thing first time around but my parents insisted on a big do and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I was even prepared to continue to ‘live in sin’ if all this wedding nonsense was what it took. My poor hubby ‘mark 1′ hardly knew a soul and I just sat in a corner chatting to a woman friend and later got a big parental lecture about ingratitude.

And yes, office parties. Fortunately having worked freelance for 24 years I don’t belong to an office, so parties are not an issue.

Other job-related social events are also avoidable. The only thing I’m willing to go to is a post-project gathering, e.g. when I have been one of a team working on a major translation project, and we meet at someone’s house to chat and commiserate over tea and cake. We all know each other anyway, we all do the same job and have just been working together, so there IS something to talk about.

And how weird is this for a dyed-in-the-wool loner? This summer all the would-be MAs have had to attend work-in-progress seminars where each of us was required to give a presentation. As each of the 12 in the group had had his or her ’15 minutes of fame’ we had got to know each other slightly better than in previous classes. On the last day, while chatting to a couple of the others I suggested we got together for a drink in a couple of weeks’ time. Not only did I suggest it, I also found myself organising the whole thing. Nine out of the 12 of us showed up, sat in a circle and chatted endlessly. Why? Because we were all in the same boat. It DOES make a difference.

Finally, you might enjoy this little song. I wouldn’t take part in such a production but I love the sentiment:

http://www.metaspoon.com/older-ladies-donnalou/?sw=ym

Have a good day, fellow lone wolves. A big X to each one.

Ha! Great song 🙂 Going to have to share it. xx

Trust the convict to talk dirty! 😉
As a freeborn Aussie, I too think it is important to raise all these issues, Bayleafoz. Well done.
I find constipation occurs if I am not vigilant re fluid quantities. I also find it a problem if I eat a lot of starchy foods on normal days. This never happened before 5:2. I agree, plenty of veg and unprocessed foods should do the trick. It is a new problem for me, so watch this space…..I’ll experiment with my normal day diet.
Free Aussie PVE 🙂

Hello all. I can so identify with the not enjoying work social functions. I always found it stressful worrying I would say the wrong thing and also you can’t even have a conversation with those you would like to due to the noise level!! Glad I’m retired now!!! We are on 5th fast day today. Only had tea and coffee so far and I’ve been out painting with my art group this morning so have been well occupied. I don’t feel like eating yet so will get on with ironong and put Wimbledon on. My husband has lost 2kg in a week!!!!

Hi I am 63. I started the fast diet in February 2013 and lost the most of my weight by September 2013. At Christmas I regained 4-5 lbs and it was very hard to loose. I signed up for a ‘groupon’ deal for an online nutrition course as I thought I was ‘treating’ myself too much between fasts. This has totally changed my mindset. My husband (60) is now losing weight as well because apart from family celebrations we eat according to a portion plate of half vegies or salad and one quarter carbs (preferable complex (brown rice, pasta, potatoes with skins on, etc) and one quarter protein (approx 100-110 grams meat, fish, poultry or veg option). If you eat really well like this (and forgive yourself on the days when you don’t) and you fast twice a week you will definitely loose the weight you want. Oh and wall 30 minutes as fast as you can, 5 days a week.

Hi Femme Anglaise,
Is that a real word “ambivert”? If not it should be! You sound like the chrysalis that has turned into a butterfly! Isn’t amazing and wonderful how it is still possible to change no matter what our age.

Xx

Message for Precious Booboo.
Telephone number for our hotel we are staying Friday and Saturday and not sure if we will stay there on the Sunday night
01970 617834
I still haven’t had a confirmation email and I was going to follow it up telling them to expect a call from you. They have my mobile number and I will tell them to give it to you. What name do you want me to tell them will be asking for this info, how about Mrs P.B.B Mosley. LOL.
I hope the weather is good for you, it’s pretty good here in the South.
Hope to hear from you soon. JIP

Wise words, Jan. I agree, don’t be afraid to say no. However, in the past I’ve landed in deep doo-doo for doing just that, especially when family are involved.

Many years ago, when I said no to a first birthday jelly party for my nephew because it coincided with my first wedding anniversary and my then husband and I had planned a weekend away I was treated to a long lecture from my younger brother – the babe’s dad – about my ‘attitude’. Then once when I said no to his daughter she refused to speak to me for 5 years! However, the older I get, the less I care.

And much as I love my now hubby, I relish the times when he’s away visiting rellies with whom I don’t get on all that well. I can watch the art house movies – mostly French – and the more ‘serious’ films that I love, and eat stuff he dislikes, like asparagus and artichokes.

I also prefer to shop alone and go to museums on my own. I even like travelling alone. In my late teens and early 20s I chose to work away from home in the UK, then I worked in France, Switzerland and Spain and I can’t really say I was ever lonely. In a few scrapes, but never lonely.

It wasn’t until I was married and in my mid-30s that I settled down a bit, although going to uni at 36 got me a lot of stick from people who couldn’t understand why I should do such a preposterous thing. To give my family their due, they – apart from my father – were very supportive.

It changed my life and ended my first marriage, as I understand is often the case when women enrol as mature students. I qualified post-grad as a teacher of French and Spanish, working in two different schools, the first diabolical, the second wonderful, but I decided that what I really wanted to do was to be a translator – a solitary profession -, which is what I’ve been doing for the last 24 years and I still love it. Most of my stuff is for broadcast or publication, including not far short of 80 books, so it has to be good.

My quiet confidence that I could actually succeed at something after a lot of trial and error has sent me back to uni part-time to do an MA History of Art, at an age when many would recommend I go down to the day centre for a nice game of bingo and a singalong to Vera Bloody Lynn. Now in the final straight with the dreaded dissertation to write, I sometimes wonder it might be easier to do just that – for all of five seconds.

Oh my goodness, what a wonderful days posting. I haven’t time to reply in the depth I would like to as I have a busy day tomorrow but I think I can connect with every post.
What a lovely supportive group you are,, I am so pleased to be a part of this group of amazing women.
Hermajtomomi,, I too am very fussy about who I go to a gallery or museum, definitely not hubby as he is a one man cultural wasteland, lol! Your job sounds very interesting, what languages do to translate to and from? I am an interpreter , British Sign Language/ English and I too am very lucky as I love my job, although days like today when it’s been very stressful to test me!

Welcome JanetM51, your way of eating makes sense,, a good tip for my non fast days.

I have really enjoyed reading the posts from Jan, Cheeseplease, JIPWGP, Wilbersnanna, bayleafoz, PVE, Speedy, Nicky F and Piper,, so much I would like to say, especially as I am a strange mixture of extrovert but shy in lots of situations too. I think one of my motivations for being an extrovert is to be liked so I clown around a lot,,, I love making people laugh. But a lot of situations I find really scary, its a works BBQ next week and I have to go but none of my team are going so I am dreading it! I will have to force myself to go but I will be anxious all night about ” tagging” onto other groups. My idea of hell. Still, I won’t need to stay long, thank goodness.

I hope you are all well,, goodnight and sleep tight! Xx

Hi Bayleafoz

If you don’t ask questions you won’t get any answers. I haven’t been told I have bad breath when fasting, I work in a school and I’m sure the children would soon say, they don’t hold back! As for the other….I drink pints of fluids each day, fasting or not – tea, water, sugar free squash, so no problem there either. I did say pints, my daughter has a heart problem so we drink by the pint glass, non alcoholic LOL, it’s easier to keep track of your intake.

I had a really good FD today, I started at 07:00 with 2 poached eggs on lean ham, herbal tea, lots of fizzy water, 10 almonds at midday, 1 stick of celery whilst cooking dinner (7:00pm) which was a massive bowl of Spiced Tomato Dal (Telegraph website) and half WW Naan bread, 10 cherries and more fuzzy water. Totalled 550 calories, that’s close enough. Fizzy water is great to stop a rumbling tummy. Let’s see what the scales say tomorrow. I had reached goal weight, but put on 1.5lbs as had a family reunion with too much home cooking and some chocolate, no moderation 🙁 however my waist could be smaller, still over 32″, I read it should be under. May even do a second FD B2B, at least I’ll be away from food as I’m helping at school production in the evening. Not made the veggie patties yet.

Ladies I’ll make you laugh… Was told today I looked pale, but they have yet to realise I touched up my grey roots at the weekend and it came out much darker than normal. Ha ha. I know I feel fine, didn’t feel tired, even managed ancient egyptian cooking with my class and didn’t eat anything, will power! Hopefully down 1lb when I weigh in tomorrow morning. Ali x

Good morning/evening everyone.

Hermaj – I understand completely about mature age study changing one’s life. I enrolled in a research PhD in plant molecular biology in my 40s. My OH is a geologist and we had lived in some remote places but once in a capital city it was an opportunity to firstly, prepare for my impending empty nest by bringing my qual’s up to date and secondly, to try to prove I was ‘up to’ doing something really hard, for my self-esteem.

I enjoyed (mostly) the research but the writing up was hell. I talked about that in my profile. However, once I had my degree conferred it did such wonders for my mental outlook. I ‘wouldn’t call the king my cousin’ as the saying goes and nearly 20 years later it is still working.

Cheeseplease, hear hear! Don’t ever give up Hermaj. It will be worth it.

Just watched a UK program on our SBS TV channel last night The Truth about Fat. Pretty sure it was a re-run but good nonetheless, about the role of fat/sugar in counteracting stress. One of the studies involved identical twins who were different weights and in every case the fatter one had had some serious stress in her life which somehow changed the expression of the gene/s which controlled appetite. I could really relate to that. Also comforting to know it’s not just greed/lack of self-control which has made us overeat in the past, especially the wrong foods.

2nd fasting day for me. Sending good vibes for others doing the same.

Will be cheering on our last Aussie at Wimbledon tonight our time, 19yo Nick Kyrigos as he plays Rafael Nadal.

Hope Precious and JIP manage their rendezvous. The rate we’re going we’ll have easily passed 2600 posts by the time they log in.

PS I love the way Andy Murray used to be a Scot, and then when he started winning he was “British” !

Hi PVE and Nicki
Maybe fasting with two small meals protects against bad breath. It is something I don’t have – checked with OH. I suspect bad breath comes with the sugars and starches 🙂

Water, water, water. I agree with your food intake during the fast day. That is why I’m never going to do a 24 hour. Even yesterday’s severe FD made me wish I had not. However, I did wake up to a BMI of 23.4 and I began in January with BMI of over 28. So did a little dance and promptly went off and played 18 holes (not well!) with friends in glorious sunshine of 8C.

I keep disconnecting the computer, so I’m trying the phone.
Golf, hanging around plants and whale watching. Pretty good eh?
I drink so much on FDs I also slosh!
Walking in to town for dinner. The day has been stunning, then the sun drops and so does the temp. Makes me walk faster.
See ya, PVE

PS Bok Choy is a Chinese green vegetable that we put into stir fries and such!

Oops sorry girls for the typo and I work in a school!

Hi iouabook. Great name!
1. Yes
2. Yes, if you want to lose weight in a healthy way.
3. Yes.
I eat less on non FD because I feel as iff my stomach has shrunk and it’s no longer pleasant.

Mainly, read the 5:2 book by Michael Mosley and Mimi and stick with it. Strength to you!