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In the dwindling hours of the current year, all I can say is...GOOD RIDDANCE. I will be glad to be rid of 2003. And in the words of Forrest Gump...that's all I have to say about that!

We're just spending a cosy night in with our DVD player and some munchies. It's not worth going out tonight...with taxis charging triple fare, all the good clubs and pubs in Manchester charging money to even enter their premises, and plus it's pretty darn cold out so all those saddos in their clubbing gear will be freezing their patooties off which doesn't make it sound very worth the effort to me (or this this a sign that I'm just getting old?!) But it may even snow tonight (yaaaay!) so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that.

But to all the rest of you, whatever you're up to, have a good one!

So, it's come to this, eh! The end of the year retrospective. My hubby has written his own end-of-year post so I can't really compete with his so I'll do my own version instead. I always hate all those TV programmes that over-analyze every little newsworthy thing that happened this year but I did find something interesting on the Globe and Mail's website a few days ago which I will share with you now. It's a different spin on the newsworthy items; condensing them down into noteworthy quotations. After all, modern news is all about the soundbite, so it kind of makes sense to do it this way. If only because some people's attention spans are only held for that long! But the thing is with these introspective thingies, does anyone REALLY remember most of these stories down the road? Somehow in the mists of time they really don't seem that important. But for now, enjoy the state of the world as it stands now. In quotations.
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"Bleak is the new black." — Actor Ewan McGregor, while speaking of his forthcoming film, Young Adam, takes the temperature of the times.

"Rich is the new gay." — A report on The Daily Show suggests reality shows about stupid rich people (The Simple Life) will now replace shows about gay people (Will & Grace, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy).

"It is as it was." — The Pope reportedly offers a rave review for Mel Gibson's film about the life of Christ, Passion.

"I know there's going to be a wedding. Love survives bad press." — Affleck insists accusations he cheated on his fiancιe have failed to rock their romance.

"I'm Beni-fried out." — Affleck's friend, Christian Slater, expresses his disenchantment with the story of the year.

"Reality. What an elusive and defiled concept. The stark reality about Reality — David Bowie's stunning and vital new album — is that there really isn't any concept. And according to Reality's legendary creator, there ultimately may not be any reality either." — The press release for David Bowie's new album puts it all out of focus.

"Big Brother is not reality any more. You don't get 10 normal people to do it. You get 10 crap actors in the house." — American Idol judge Simon Cowell on the decline of reality television.

"It may never come to this, but I won't do anything sexual. Especially with farm animals." — Lionel Richie's daughter, Nicole, on her new reality show, The Simple Life, in which she stars with Paris Hilton.

"What's your favourite, like, restaurant chain? I like the Olive Garden." — Amber, making small talk during her one-on-one date, on The Bachelor.

"I suppose people will call me Sir Mick. But Sir Michael has a nice ring to it." — Sir Mick Jagger accepts a knighthood at Her Majesty's request.

"I don't want to step out on stage with someone wearing a f---ing coronet and sporting the old ermine." — Keith Richards expresses his disagreement with Sir Mick's new title.

"I think he's a bit like a bawling child who hasn't got an ice cream." — Sir Mick rebuts his commoner bandmate.

"I'm a big fan of Jerry Springer and Judge Judy. Jerry Springer is an interesting sociological cultural phenomenon." — Sir Anthony Hopkins, self-described "Malibu beach bum," declares his fondness for American culture.

"To have a lot of dolls made of two characters that I have played or to find little representations of myself falling out of a cornflakes box or on a Burger King mug, these are not necessarily desirable things, but when they happen, you just sort of hug yourself with delight." — Sir Ian McKellen, on starring in both The Lord of the Rings and X-Men movies.

"He's a perfect gentleman and a hunka hunka burnin' love." — Dame Judi Dench, on her co-star in The Chronicles of Riddick, Vin Diesel.

The Hokey Pokey, by William Shakespeare:
O proud left foot, that ventures quick within
Then soon upon a backward journey lithe.
Anon, once more the gesture, then begin:
Command sinistral pedestal to writhe.
Commence thou then the fervid Hokey-Poke,
A mad gyration, hips in wanton swirl.
To spin! A wilde release from Heavens yoke.
Blessed dervish! Surely canst go, girl.
The Hoke, the poke — banish now thy doubt
Verily, I say, 'tis what it's all about.
— Jeff Brechlin, of Potomac Falls, Va., winner of a Washington Post contest to write a series of instructions in the style of a famous writer.

"Lucky that my breasts are small and humble/So you don't confuse them with mountains." — South American singer Shakira, of the gyroscopic hips and English-as-a-second-language lyrics, from her song Whenever, Wherever.

"Everyone in L.A. is blond with big boobs. Even the men!" — American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson says she's a small-town girl at heart.

"You felt her ..... bosom?!'' Barbara Walters, after Sharon Osbourne revealed that she'd grabbed Camilla Parker Bowles's "tits" on 20/20.

"When I shake my butt, I feel it in my soul." — Bootylicious singer Beyoncι Knowles.

"I have a very big bottom. But if I didn't have a bottom, I wouldn't have anything. I only look like a woman from the back." — The English Patient star Kristin Scott Thomas

"I was followed around Heathrow by a guy who wanted to take a picture of my backside. I don't understand the obsession." — Renιe Zellweger, on the weight she's gaining for the second Bridget Jones movie.

"I'm very comfortable with my body. Still, I'm having my first bikini wax today, and I'm a wreck about it. Since my bikini line starts way down at my knees, I figure it's probably a good idea." — Alyssa Milano reveals too much about revealing more.

"I love how Madonna works two of America's most famous people to be her b**ches!" Kelly Osbourne, on Madonna playing tonsil-hockey with Britney and Christina Aguilera.

"I always laugh when actors fight over trailers. I'm from Kentucky. We try to stay out of trailers. It's not a status symbol for us." — George Clooney, on film-set etiquette.

"I could sit around with my thumb up my butt watching TV and my kids would still go to college." — Former Home Alone, current Party Monster star Macaulay Culkin.

"I'll phone up and say, 'Hi, it's Paris Hilton,' and they'll say, 'Yes, this is the Paris Hilton.' So I'm like, 'Yes, I know, I'm Paris Hilton.' It can go on for hours like some bad comedy film." — Paris Hilton, on getting booked at the family hotel.

"I have a house, but it's too crazy for me. It's got a bowling alley, a racquetball court, a tennis court, basketball and volleyball courts, an indoor shooting range, two guesthouses and a pool." — 16-year-old Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz.

"I've been lucky because I do regard myself as a slightly aging character and I've been able to be in scenes with delightful women, like Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Salma Hayek, Goldie Hawn. ..... It's been a perk of the job. And the prettiest of all, of course, was Johnny Depp." — Actor Geoffrey Rush, on beauties with whom he has starred.

"I think I'm saying everything that people are just afraid to say." — Pop singer Jessica Simpson, who wondered if Chicken of the Sea contained chicken, and responded, "I don't eat buffalo meat" when offered Buffalo wings on her reality show.

"Looking back, I don't know why we needed it to be quite so loud all the time." — The Who star Pete Townshend, on his current problems with tinnitus.

"Someone asked me the other day, 'What do you do?' And I said, 'Mainly interviews about things that I did more than 25 years ago.'." — Comedian John Cleese, on being a living legend.

"I've got three words for him: Am. A. Teur." — Charlie Sheen on his successor as Hollywood's latest bad boy, Colin Farrell.

"In three years time, I can see him headlining at any Holiday Inn in America." — American Idol star Simon Cowell on Eminem.

"The recording artist once named Pink will be called Beige when people realize that that's the colour you get when you mix her name with the crap she records." — Jack Black's comic prediction for the future.

"Monica Lewinsky has agreed to host a new Fox reality show called Mr. Personality. Lewinsky says this way, when people ask her the most degrading thing she's ever done, she'll have a new answer." — Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live.

"Yesterday, the World Health Organization said the spread of SARS has been stopped dead in its tracks. That means the biggest health threat in Toronto is, once again, acute boredom." — Conan O'Brien on Late Night.

"I wish him all the luck and I'd really like him to grope me." — One of Schwarzenegger's many political rivals in the race, porn star Mary Carey.

"I have slept in a bed with many children. Why can't you share your bed? The most loving thing to do is to share your bed with someone." — Michael Jackson in the documentary Living With Michael Jackson, aired months before the singer was charged with child molestation.

"I am loud and I do curse." — Rosie O'Donnell, on court testimony that she turned into an "uberbitch" when working for Rosie magazine.

"I dumb down for my audience and double my dollars/ They criticize me for it but they all yell 'Holla!'." — Jay-Z on his new The Black Album.

"It starts with something violent right away. Then after that there's a big, violent scene. Then there's a conversation scene, with a little more violence at the end. Then there's a little segue and there's some more violence. It's very violent." — Uma Thurman, on her starring role in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.

"If you are a 12-year-old girl or boy, you must go and see Kill Bill and you will have a damn good time." — Director Quentin Tarantino on, apparently, the same film.

"There's an old Texas expression, 'If you don't have anything nice to say, go to London and say it in front of 2,000 people.'." — Dixie Chicks star Natalie Maines on her anti-George Bush comments that landed the act in trouble.

"It was hard watching myself get killed, but my mother would have been proud." — Talk-show star Jerry Springer on watching his murder in the stage production of Jerry Springer: The Opera.

"Don't tell anyone. I'm supposed to be dumb." — Former supermodel Helena Christensen admits she can speak six languages.

...I just *had* to start a blog entry with that title! Despite sitting here with a cold (one Christmas present I most definitely didn't want) I am getting rather nostalgic-feeling because deep down, I have always liked Christmas and this year is no exception, even though this is kind of a tough Christmas for us. This is the first year we've spent Christmas on our own without G's Mum to share it with. I know it's really difficult on my husband even though he's been really brave about it. Plus it's the first Christmas with G's new lifelong companion, Mr. Diabetes. And in a parallel universe where we'd have oodles of cash to spend, my techy husband would be getting an iPod in his stocking but unfortunately that won't be happening this year (Sorry, hon!). But despite everything, we're determined to have a 'merry little Christmas' anyway.

So, what's a 'typical English Christmas' you ask? To be honest I really don't know. It would be nice to say that it's all Dickensian and stuff, but that would be lying. For one thing it's been rainy and miserable--not very Christmassy at all but I guess that in itself is 'a typical English Christmas'. We've been getting some interesting perspectives on Christmas on the news. There are those who would rather escape Christmas here and jetting off to sunnier climes as a record number of Brits are doing (anything to get out of cooking Christmas dinner, eh!). But for those who are travelling for family celebrations within the UK, the news has been reporting massive train delays because some bright spark has decided that this would be the most opportune time to shut sections of track on the most important routes in Britain (like the West Coast Main Line, which runs from Scotland through Manchester, Birmingham and London) in order to undertake repair work on the rail system, which in turn creates more traffic jams on the roads because people have no real choice but to drive. --A fun start to the holiday? I think not!

Of course the past week or so for me and other people who work in retail has been absolutely exhausting as the Christmas panic-buying has really got underway. People are spending more than ever on Christmas, as you can read in this BBC news report here but for someone like me who works in retail, it completely boggles my mind as to WHY people have to spend so darn much. Yesterday we went to the supermarket where I work to buy our turkey and fresh veg as we don't have a lot of room in our tiny fridge and freezer to do it any earlier, and we were absolutely gobsmacked at the queues. It took about half an hour to reach a till, as people were doing massive shops and the shelves were absolutely gutted. The supermarkets are closed for two days, not a week! I saw one father and son whose two trollies (translation for you North Americans reading this: shopping carts) were filled with nothing but beer and chocolate, and there were pallets of brussels sprouts (aka the devil's own vegetable, as G calls them!) and oranges stacked 5 feet high. There was not a mince pie in sight, very few Christmas cakes left, but even the nappy (aka diaper) aisle and the bread aisle was stripped pretty much bare. Don't even get me started on what the alcohol aisles looked like! And this was before lunchtime! I wish I had my digital camera with me so I could take a photo to stick on here, because it was pretty unbelievable. I had to work today and the store was far less busy than yesterday but only because there were a lot of empty shelves. At least I get Christmas Day and Boxing Day off so I have a bit of time to get some R 'n R. I pity those poor people who have to work Boxing Day just so people can spend even more money in the sales.

But I'm about to go and make supper...it's becoming a bit of a tradition for us on Christmas Eve to have 'snacky things' like mini-pizzas, spicy shrimp, nice cheese and crackers etc and watch a movie or something. And of course I'll be keeping tabs on the progress of Santa Claus (or Father Christmas as he's known here) on The Norad Santa Tracker--right now he's in southeast Asia.

So from me to everyone who reads this blog, have a wonderful and restful Christmas! Thank you for supporting my blog, and my hubby's blog as well, it really encourages us to know that we have one or two readers along the way which makes this whole thing worthwhile. I'm sorry that I've neglected to respond to my comments at times, it's just I've been so dang busy lately that I can barely keep up with my blogging responsibilities, nevermind my real world ones. But I really do appreciate all of them and those people whose blogs I visit regularly are beccoming close to my heart. Just wanted to let y'all know that.

These are photos (click on them to enlarge) of our regular visitor to our backyard. Actually we have about three of 'em. I guess we've opened a squirrel sanctuary of sorts. They are attracted to the food we put out for the birds, and literarally shove the birds out of the way to feed their furry faces(meanies!) but we still like watching them and enjoy them despite burying peanuts all over the yard, making it look like we've got a zillion tiny moles because of all the hols (I guess they serve a dual purpose of aerating the soil!). They provide cheap entertainment--especially when a 'squirrel scrap' ensues. Vicious little critters they are....So we took these photos over a month ago through our kitchen window. They turned out pretty well we think--not least of all because we were laughing so hard we could barely hold the camera! Note the lack of snow. The grass is still green but the trees' leaves have fallen and everything looks pretty brown. But it's still not very Christmassy!

I should try to post some more photos on here; Des has done some pretty neat stuff on her blog and I admit it really gives a new dimension to blogging. We've been meaning to start a Webshots page since like forever but it's one of those things that we've never quite got around to doing. But maybe now that I've got a few days off during Christmas, eh!

I've been thinking a lot lately about why this show is one of my all-time favorites and why it's such a British institution. It's really difficult to put the attraction into words, although many people have tried. It doesn't really fit into the stereotypical soap operas anywhere. The Aussies have their surfer soaps in Neighbours and Home and Away, the Americans have their slick daytime shows but I think Corrie is different from the rest of thiese. For one thing, the characters speak English (but it's not a type of English--or English accent--North Americans are used to hearing), and the characters wouldn't really stand out in a crowd. But if you're lucky enough to catch an episode or two of the world's longest running soap opera you might catch the bug like I've done.

The show is set in Weatherfield, which is a fictional area modelled on the real-life town of Salford that straddles Manchester. The Street itself is typical of English working-class streets--brick row-houses, a corner shop and newsagents and of course the neighbourhood pub--in this case, the Rovers Return Inn. English neighbourhoods tend not to be quite so insular but it's these basic settings that provide the backdrop to Corrie. The magic of it all is that the show portrays ordinary, working-class people in pretty everyday situations (so what if the situations are glammed-up a little for television!) who live out their daily lives, just trying to get on with it.

The show was created over 40 years ago by Tony Warren, who was inspired by the inner-city Manchester of his grandparents. he joined Granada Television Studios in this Northern city and persuaded them to produce his serial 'Florizel Street' about a small, close-knit community in Manchester. The name was changed to 'Coronation Street' in order to appeal to wider English society and give it a distinct British feel. The first episode was transmitted on Friday, December 9th, 1960 at 7 PM and has run continuously since then, increasing from 2 to 3, then to 4 half-hour episodes per week . It has clocked up an average of 15 million UK fans per episode, plus many more in Australia, New Zealand, parts of Europe and of course, Canada.

So why exactly does this soap inspire such a cult following? Why would anyone want to watch a programme starting Brits of mixed ages, varying levels of glamour and with strong (some might say 'funny') accents? It's difficult for anyone to come up with a blanket answer, but fans (and even a few academics) discuss plot-lines and show-related gossip with a passion that few shows merit. There are Coronation Street fanclubs located worldwide. And of course in this Internet age, the passion between fansbecomes even more apparent. There are people like my mother-in-law (God rest her soul) who proudly admit to religiously watching the show since its inception even though the show has had countless characters come and go and has updated itself through the decades. It probably has something to do with the fact that it is so real, most people can relate to it and strikes the heart of anyone who has been part of a close-knit community--or yearns to be. Up until recently, a big tourist attraction was going to see the set of Granada Studios, where fans could walk the 'hallowed cobbles' and that sort of thing--until Granada shut the set to public access. This is so not fair, I seriously wish they'd open it up again, even for a limited time period this summer. I think the fans should start campaigning for them to do this again. But I digress.

My own personal history with Coronation Street began when I started watching the show when I started corresponding with a certain English bloke who lived near Manchester. I didn't pay too much attention to it before then. I thought it was 'just some foreign show'. I was less cultured then. I struggled with the rhythms of the accent but once I concentrated more of what was happening it all kind of clicked. Because of my busy work schedule I don't get to watch it as much as I'd like, and I'm not a fanatical fan as some people are, but I try to at least keep up with the plot twists!

For all you Canadian viewers, Corrie airs Monday to Thursday on CBC at 3 PM, or you can catch the omnibus on Sunday mornings at 8 AM. So slip on your slippers and your cardigan, grap a nice cuppa tea and a handful of biccies (aka biscuits/cookies) and plunk yourself down in a comfy chair. I dare you to give it a go!

I don't want to get political in my blog (I'll leave that to people who are actually good at having heated political debates) but the following was sent to me by our friends back home. This little snippet was in a letter to editor of Canada's Globe & Mail two days ago, and our friends thought of me right away (which I'm chuffed that they did). If they had a blog then this would no doubt go on there, but I have their blessing to stick it on mine. I like it when I see that someone else has an offbeat sense of humour too!

"Sirs:
Saddam Hussein committed murder most foul when he dropped a bomb on Coronation Street last Sunday morning. The program was pre-empted by the CBC to cover Saddam's capture. I suggest his trial be held before the bar of
the Rover's Return and the jury should include Jack Duckworth and 11 regular viewers. Can't be fairer than that. C. C, Toronto. ": (and the writer was a male!)....You can see it now, can't you? Saddam's punishment being forced to listen to Les Battersby and Kirk's stories whilst eating a greasy fry-up and drinking cheap lager and listening to Status Quo records being continuously played at a high volume. Works for me!

One of the problems that Corrie fans have in Canada is the dang CBC is always pre-empting the show for other things...sporting events, 'important' news stories and suchlike. My UK ex-pat friends/fellow Corrie fans in Nova Scotia (Hi Dave and Jane!) tell me that Corrie is something like 6 whole months behind the UK. Well, they can always go to the Coronation Street Visual Update page to catch up on what's *really* happening but knowing a lot of die-hard Corrie-heads (I'm thinking of one I know in Castlegar right now--hi, Leanne!) that would be a heinous sin to find out the spoilers (kind of like my husband where The West Wing is concerned--but that's another story). Or, if you want to find out what all the fuss is about, then go to Corrie.net. I am working on a longer post about the show in order to educate y'all about it. I just haven't had time to finish it lately. But I will soon! (I'm not trying to keep you in suspense on purpose you know!)

Yesterday we went to the European Christmas market in Manchester which we like doing every year. The market isn't huge but it's neat to browse around and see the different stalls from Germany, France and Holland (mostly--there are stalls from a few other countries). I have never been to mainland Europe yet, believe it or not, so this is a taste of what the culture of different countries is like. I enjoy hearing the different accents, too. But while we were in Starbucks, warming up with a Gingerbread Latte, two famous people strolled in--Toyah Battersby and Maxine Peacock from Coronation Street! Ok, it was the actresses who played them, and both characters have left the soap, but it was very cool seeing them. Of course I was waaaay too shy to go up to them and ask them for an autograph--even though they're kinda famous, I think that famous people deserve to have a bit of 'down time' too. The other customers seemed to agree. No one came up to them and harassed them or pulled out a camera and flashed away. Which was really cool. I think if England football captain David Beckham and his Missus were caught sipping a latte it would be an entirely different story--but from what I hear, you couldn't exactly miss them because of the circle of bodyguards.

Coronation Street is so huge here--I know I should devote a post to my fave soap, but I am too tired to do it this evening. I'll leave that for another time. But the main reason I like it is that it's so real, the actors look like real people, not actors who've had plastic surgery to within an inch of their lives. When I was home this summer I watched an episode or two of the American soaps General Hospital and All My Children (I used to watch them on a semi-regular basis, til I moved over here and lost track of what was happening) and found them so boring and so un-real. I think an episode of a British soap packs more into a half-hour than the hour-long American soaps do.

Anyway, I promise I'll share more of what makes Corrie a great show (40 years can't be wrong) in another post. I am slightly kicking myself though that I didn't have the guts to get any autographs yesterday though.

Just when I think that no one loves me, everyone hates me, so I might as well go out in the garden and eat worms, along comes some 'warm fuzzies' which goes some way to making me feel blessed and very lucky to have such wonderful people in my life. The Christmas cards are starting to arrive, and even though communicating by email is great, I loooove getting old fashioned snail mail and seeing my friends and family's handwriting and little doodles and things. It makes me feel connected to 'back home' in way that often nothing else can.

The hardest, suckiest thing about being overseas is that I feel like I'm missing out on my friends' and family's lives. Especially around Christmas-time, when the emphasis is on friends and family, I feel empty because I want to do the Canadian Christmassy stuff like toboggan, attend services in my home church and all that snuggly stuff. And instead, I acutely feel very much alone and disconnected from those I care about. Sometimes to the point of tears. I know this is my choice, and I'm glad for the experiences I've been able to have but sometimes I feel I would trade this ex-pat stuff in for the chance to sit and have a coffee and hang out with those that I miss. Coming home for Christmas is a luxury which may not happen for a while. I accept that. But I wish there was a way to have my fruitcake and eat it. Granted, North Americans often have family spread out thither and yon as well, but I just feel that big ol' ocean might as well be a chasm a million miles wide. When I visited people when I was finally able to go home this past summer, I was acutely aware that I missed so much and I was scared that I might never get back the friendships again because of the physical and emotional distance that my moving overseas has created. It was a frightening thought. I'm afraid to have a moan, however, to my workmates and husband. I'm scared that if I put my feelings into words I'm somehow being thoughtless and selfish, that I'm disregarding all the opportunities in front of me. But the stupid thing is, despite being here for several years, I feel an outsider among my work colleagues, that somehow they don't understand and I'm just being a freaky foreigner. So I plod on and keep smiling. But somewhere down the line, the homesickness gets triggered. Caught between two worlds.

I guess that's why I put a lot of thought into the stuff I send home. It's my little way of sending a bit of love back to them, that I haven't forgotten them and I do really appreciate how they've accepted and not forgotten me despite the miles between us. I see something in a shop and go '(insert name here) would love this!' and it's my way of keeping them in my mind. It's difficult to explain. But I miss them. And everytime I get a card or note from someone I just count my blessings. Sappy, I know. The little things they do, even though they don't realize it, makes me feel like I can somehow fit in here, and be proud to be myself. I just hope they don't go and forget about me, either.

No, it's not some kind of sci-fi movie or me forgetting to put in 'Joe' after the initials. GI, short for Glycemic Index, is a new way of eating which we're adapting to and finding useful because we've had to, mainly because my dear hubby is a recently-diagnosed diabetic (for those of you who don't already know) we've had to make some pretty big lifestyle changes in a big way. We didn't get a lot of time to practice or to gradually get used to the idea of a new way of eating after G was diagnosed. From all the info we've been bombarded with about diabetes and how to manage the condition, we realized we've been putting into practice principles of eating with the Glycemic Index in mind without really realizing it. The basic principles are a lot of common sense; some foods raise the blood sugar really quickly, then drop it really low--commonly known as 'sugar crash'. Which it leaves you feeling sluggish, and tired, and really unsatisfied--so you end up craving more sugar. But other products, like whole grains as opposed to the refined grains, raise the blood sugar more slowly and evenly, which sustains energy for longer. I'm sure that most everyone knows this from their nutrition classes in school. But putting it into practice is another matter. I know that supermarkets and government campaigns etc remind us how important it is to eat healthily but why is it so dang hard to do? Making the healthy food choices is really difficult when it seems that we're bombarded with messages constantly about the joys of junk food--why can't they make celery taste like chocolate ice cream? Plus sometimes grabbing a not-so-healthy option is much easier than grabbing a healthy snack. I can see you guys nodding your head in agreement. My grandparents (and even my parents, when they were younger) couldn't afford sugar and refined products so they naturally ate things that were better for them, and they had more home-grown produce and things. Maybe healthy eating was more intrinsic to them, who knows.

But take it from someone with a sweet tooth (anyone else for chocolate chip cookie dough fresh from the bowl?), having a hubby who needs to eat healthily and thus myself being forced to buck up my eating habits by proxy, there's a lot of truth in the princlples of GI eating. I am not advocating any particular diet or anything, by any means. But to give you an example of how I'm noticing the change in diet makes me feel, before G became diabetic, neither of us ate breakfast. Just coffee. Now, Garry *has* to eat breakfast. Skipping it isn't an option. At first I literally felt nauseous at the prospect of seeing food in the morning but after a while of eating brekkie cuz *he* had to eat it, I found that my morning energy levels really increased and I wasn't ravenous by 10 AM. And I find that I don't miss sugar so much; the odd time I have a dessert for lunch at work I find that it's almost too sweet. Weird, eh! After having a kick up the butt and reforming my admittedly somewhat-sloppy eating habits, I find myself seeking out healthier food and steering clear of the fatty stuff. We haven't got to the stage where we're eating alfalfa sprouts and Lentil Surprise yet. We're not health-food freaks and I don't think we'll ever be that fanatical.

But it turns out that GI eating is gearing up to be the 'next big diet thing'. following on from Atkins. Here's a really good article from one of our fave newspapers, The Guardian, explaining more about GI and how next year, foods could even be labelled with whether it is a high or low GI food. Check it out here. Gosh, we're trendsetters! Who woulda thunk it! But the thing is, it's not like you're depriving yourself by doing this. It's more like a lifestyle thing, not a diet and learning what works for you.

More food labelling would be good for people like us who now have to be really conscious of what they eat. All this GI stuff has very real implications for diabetics, but don't kid yourself, the rest of us could benefit from this as well. We've learned, for example, that one Mars Bar would upset a diabetic's blood glucose levels for several days after eating it. And foods labelled 'low fat' tend to have loads of added sugar. Kinda makes you think, huh? I guess the thing is, rather than worrying about it is to still enjoy food, don't obsess about nutrition and weight (I don't care if I'm losing weight or not--although it would be nice--I just like the fact that I have more energy than I did in the past, which can only be a good thing) and all that stuff. I feel that takes all the joy out of eating, and let's face it, it's nearly impossible to avoid all the 'bad stuff' anyway. The important thing is, I feel, is to educate yourself about the facts and then start small with any changes that you might make. Take it from me, it does take lots of time and some trial and error. But it's just really interesting that more research into GI and the effects on health are starting to take place, and it'll be interesting to see what direction it all goes in.

I've been neglecting my blogging. I feel really badly about that. I have loads of stuff to blog about, but no time. I haven't even had time to write email. I wish I had more time to do fun things right now, but I feel like I just find it difficult to keep my head 'above water' right now. I said to G today that I was busy all day today (my day off) but felt like I got absolutely nothing done. I've felt down the past few days, which isn't like me at all.

So enough whingeing, I'll leave y'all with a link. It's a fun Christmas link, suitable for all the family--to get you into the Christmas spirit. Www.claus.com A place where you can check your Naughty or Nice rating (and no, I'm not telling you which of the two I am!). Choose your very own Elf Buddy. Play games in Elf School. Print your Honorary Elf Diploma. Sing along with new original Christmas songs. Try funny holiday recipes. Visit the amazing Toy Workshop. Send E-mail to Santa Claus. Follow Santa Claus in his sleigh on Christmas Eve. See how many cookies Santa Claus eats on his trip (in Britain Father Christmas would eat some mince pies and perhaps have a glass of sherry instead--I guess Brits don't care that he's driving a loaded sleigh while inebriated).

So have some fun and I'll be back soon, promise!