Thursday 22 December 2011

The epiphany moment

The 'epiphany moment' is one of my favourite phrases. It is relates to Christmas in so far as we celebrate the feast of Epiphany on January 6th - the 12th day of Christmas - when the Magi visited the baby Jesus and realised the enormity of what had taken place. Yet the word epiphany has taken on a wider meaning; it now tends to mean that one suddenly finds a new and profound understanding of something or other. Psychologists question the entire concept of dramatic 'new' realisations. I suppose the story of Isaac Newton with that apple falling on his head which apparently led to the discovery of gravity is the perfect example of an epiphany moment. I only write this as when out cycling on Tuesday I was asked when my epiphany moment had taken place regarding my weight loss. I didn't have an answer, but it did prompt me to examine the meaning of the question.

The Magi first see Jesus and experience their epiphany moment.

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Everton 1 Swansea 0

It is difficult to tell what this result means for Everton's season. In the end it proved to be a relatively easy victory. Swansea tried to keep the ball by endless passing movements that achieved little. After some frustrating periods of the game Everton managed to break the Swans resistance with neatly headed goal by Leon Osman. However, Everton need to find a goal scorer if they are to progress;Louis Saha looks as if he has had his best days.The blues will not face a relegation struggle, but neither will they trouble the top seven this season.

My view of the action from the upper Bullens stand.

Monday 12 December 2011

Please sir, can I have some more?

Well, yes I can. The diet is over. I have kept a record in this blog of my attempt to fight the flab. But now I have decided that enough is enough. It all started 201 days ago at the end of May, just before half term to be precise. It resulted from a conversation with the inspirational Mr Tynan. He showed me his  mobile phone application called 'Myfitnesspal'. Since that epiphany moment to the time of writing I have entered every piece of food that has passed through my mouth into 'Myfitnesspal'; the program then shows how many calories I can consume on any given day. Dear reader you know this much already. When I started I weighed 265lbs, which is around 19 stones. Over the 201 days I have managed to shed 77lbs which leaves me at 189lbs, or 13.7 stones.

The challenge now will be to maintain that weight, and to afford a new wardrobe of clothes; only my shoes still fit. One day I will tell a funny story concerning my over-sized undies, a large unsuspecting audience, and a remembrance service. But I won't tell it now.

The key figure is in the bottom right hand corner.


And the all important graph.




Sunday 4 December 2011

Jam tomorrow

Jam tomorrow?


"I'm sure I'll take you with pleasure!" the Queen said. "Two pence a week, and jam every other day."
Alice couldn't help laughing, as she said, "I don't want you to hire ME – and I don't care for jam."
"It's very good jam," said the Queen.
"Well, I don't want any TO-DAY, at any rate."
"You couldn't have it if you DID want it," the Queen said. "The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day."
"It MUST come sometimes to 'jam to-day'," Alice objected.
"No, it can't," said the Queen. "It's jam every OTHER day: to-day isn't any OTHER day, you know."
"I don't understand you," said Alice. "It's dreadfully confusing!"

This classic piece of nonsense was written by Lewis Carroll in his book  Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.  I have come across it many times, especially relating to the austerity period around the second world war, to illustrate deferred gratification: 'Jam tomorrow'. In other words, suffer now, but the good times are just around the corner. Take the medicine, and you will soon be better. Most people are prepared to accept this rationale as we understand that suffering precedes that passage into what Churchill called 'the broad sunlit uplands'. They understood that the defeat of tyranny in the 1940s would mean sacrifice, but also that in good time a new fairer world would emerge. Jam tomorrow.

In a brilliant but disturbing piece in yesterdays Times newspaper Matthew Parris speculated that the present period of austerity may not lead to lashings of Jam any time soon, never mind tomorrow. He thought-aloud as to whether this crisis might not be heralding the collapse of the post-war prosperity and the economic security that Europe has enjoyed since the last time people worried about Jam. Parris was suggesting that we might never enjoy Jam again and what impact this that might have on social cohesion in nations used to continually rising standards of living. We may soon find out