Regular readers (if any remain) may have noticed a sharp drop in output this month. Maybe it’s something to do with May, last year saw a similar drop in activity in the fifth month.
Blog posts require time, motivation and subject matter. From yesterday’s post it seems evident that subject matter is not really a problem, I am even prepared to write about sticking coffee up my bum. But I have to be in the mood to do some writing, or take some photos, and that motivation has deserted me a little the last few weeks. The other issue has been time.
You probably will not recall the exciting story of my table assault a couple of weeks ago; but having laid waste to a computer table I was struggling to find a tiler. One was recommended and he was called; too busy. Another was recommended, I went to his shop to find it had been demolished. Another couple of sources confirmed that nobody has any time or inclination to tile a single room when there are entire condos with contracts awaiting.
In desperation we went to Home Pro and were left hanging around for nearly half an hour while a succession of “assistants” started to help us before losing interest and passing on to another “assistant” who performed the same non-asssisting trick. Eventually we identified a tile that was both acceptable and in stock and arranged for a little man to come and see us tomorrow to check out the room and advise whether he will deign to accept the job in return for a small fortune. This means I will have to stay in all day just to confirm that he will not bother to turn up.
So that was fun.
The other thing that has been occupying my time has been my diet. Undertaking this juicing lark inevitably leads to much Google searching as to what is good and what is bad to juice. This in turn leads to much Google searching as to what is good and what is bad to eat. This in turn leads to the surprisingly obvious conclusion that eating meat is pretty much the worst thing you can do to your body after smoking and sticking things up your bum which are not coffee.
Don’t worry, I am not going to start on some rant about the wonders of vegetarianism, I expect you would rather see a slide show of my coffee enema (coming soon) than suffer that. And yes I know that our ancestors ate meat as well as plants. But the meat our ancestors ate lived in the wild and ate the same foods and probably contained some nourishment; whereas the meat you buy now has been raised in a shed in appalling conditions and fed antibiotics and crap before being heavily processed and wrapped in clingfilm for you to overcook and chew to ensure you fully absorb the toxins contained therein. And don’t get me started on hamburgers.
I am getting to the time of my life where a chronic disease can turn up at any time. And it’s a cold hard fact that people who don’t eat meat have a massively reduced chance of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, dementia and cancer; all of which just happen to be on my list of stuff I don’t want to die of (in case you are wondering, I want to die at age 90 in a Ferrari at 180mph, with Comfortably Numb playing at full volume and rather gorgeous woman by my side who is doing something unmentionable as I drive straight into a concrete wall. Miraculously, she survives unscathed, but does have a rather urgent need for mouthwash).
It really wasn’t a hard decision (the vegetarian thing, not the how I want to die thing). I already don’t eat beef, because she who must be obeyed doesn’t eat beef; and my pork and chicken intake usually showed up as formless balls or bits of scrag in a bowl of noodles; I can do without those. However, for the time being I am a pescetarian (a vegetarian who eats seafood), partially because the nourishment value of fish has not been as degraded as that of land animals (even if they do live in the sewer that is the Gulf of Thailand), and partially because I don’t think I could get she who must be obeyed on board without that concession. As it is, she reckons she has always wanted to be a vegetarian and so is pleased we are changing our habits; although I suspect she hasn’t realised yet that vegetarians don’t eat fried chicken or meatballs.
The no more meat decision has led to rather urgent reappraisals of what we can eat and where; and the answer is a much diminished set of choices and a realisation that more meals will have to be prepared at home, which means I will have to do them while my wife is at work. This has led to more Google time and a challenge that is still in process.
So that is the sort of mind-numbing stuff I have been busy with. Things will not improve next week because we are off to a national park for three days to hopefully shoot masses of macro. So, May will be useless; but June, well June will be extraordinary.
Comments 🔗
2013-05-26| JAN BRIGHTMORE says?? surely bacon is not off the menu. Have you passed a bacon butty being cooked since yoiur veggie conversion was declared
2013-05-26| JAN BRIGHTMORE saysand Irish recipe pork sausage ??
2013-05-26| robin saysI was a pescetarian for many years. I lived with the theory that you can’t go too far wrong with fresh fish, fresh vegetables, and some fruit. But fresh fish was too expensive for my artist “lifestyle” (AKA poverty). (I am sure that is very different where you live!) So after a while I ran out of foods I actually wanted to eat. Most vegetarians eat a lot of pasta, cheese, etc. – stuff that is no good for you and which, thankfully, I have little time for.
Not to mention that after years of vegetarianism, my cholesterol sky-rocketed.
Lately there is the total opposite theory that has gained credence… that we should be eating more red meat and animal fats. Not factory raised of course, but properly fed and free range. Anything to do with grains and beans is bad, because we didn’t evolve to eat those foods, those came after we turned the world into cultivated fields and practised decades of genetic modification on our food sources.
I tend more towards that way of thinking. Though I don’t like fat in any form.
2013-05-26| Craig sayshmm is a tough one for sure, I think if I swapped my carb intake for Green Veggies, ingested in massive amounts with the aid of my borrowed agricultural grade juicer, I would be so damn healthy that I could get away with the odd bit o bacon in my meal. Ideally of course a little organic food forrest with chickens, and aqua-ponics going on would beat driving to Foodland. One thing for sure, processed is no good and many farmers don’t produce human food anymore, many cant even keep soil alive.
2013-05-27| Spike saysYou are worse than my wife; bacon is not a vegetable. And sticking it in white bread is a double disaster.
2013-05-27| Spike saysTake any meat; add the word “sausage” and immediately double the quantity of intestines, fecal matter and sweepings from the abattoir floor. Yummy!
2013-05-27| Spike saysIf you only ate vegetables, your cholesterol would come down. I suspect a lot of dairy in your diet? There are some free range pigeons outside my condo, although i expect their diet is dubious. That’s as free range as you will find here.
2013-05-27| jan brightmore saysthink BALANCED chaps - put a dash of toamto sauce on said bacon butty - balanced.
2013-05-27| cirrostratus saysA reduction in regularity of output and a change in diet frequently go hand in hand.
2013-05-27| JAN BRIGHTMORE saysam sure the coffee assisted with output - hope K doesn’t go native before he comes ‘ome o ‘uyton. I tam obviously not totally anti veg. I allow 5 sprouts / person for Christmas dinner …………………………
2013-05-27| Barry saysTwo comments for the price of one: a problem with preparing ‘proper’ food is that it generally takes 10 times longer to prepare than it does to eat. This doesn’t seem fair. And, you’ve been out of the UK for far too long and have forgotten what good western food tastes like. A piece of well-cooked roast beef takes some beating. Most western food available in Thailand, unless you go to five star hotels and pay a fortune, is crap quality. It’s very noticeable to me when I make trips to Germany or Spain or the UK and eat there. Different world. But each to their own and I admire your dietary experimentation and effort. I’m inspired to buy a proper blender.
2013-05-27| Spike saysA piece of well-cooked roast beef may taste great, but it is still bad for you; especially if it has been factory farmed. It’s not a happy story for the factor farmed cows either…
2013-05-27| JAN BRIGHTMORE saysHope your current fad serves you long and well XXX
2013-05-28| Spike saysI agree that changing my diet to make me more healthy and avoid chronic disease is such a stupid thing to do it must just be a fad. When will I snap out of it and revert to ingesting crap?
2013-05-28| Clive saysDo hamburgers still actually qualify as meat these days? I’ve been mostly-veggie, slightly pescatarian for 20 years and frankly don’t miss the meat at all. Or the cost of the stuff… Hope you stick with it spike, and that your bank balance and stomach both thank you for it!
2013-06-04| Jock saysI´m waiting for the ´Guide To Juicing´ Tab to appear at the top of P.D. If I´m suitably drawn to a particular recipe I may even try one.