The Opposite to a "Non-Scale Victory?"

I'm afraid my sabbatical continues as usual, though I'm grateful that the band carries on working, keeping me under some form of control. 

I have a new interpretation of the phrase bandits are fond of when they say "I eat or drink something small before I have my meal because you have to prime the band".   It sounds good, a neat expression, but I've never really understood what it means.  I now think it's lateral thinking:  the problem with the first mouthful after no food for several hours is that it's very difficult to chew it properly because you're so anxious to get it down.  And that's when you're at your greatest danger of PB-ing.  So by tasting some food or drink a little earlier, what you're actually priming is not your band but your salivary glands.  Get them used to something before the main meal comes along and your brain will calm down in time. 

I've written another article for the Bariatric Surgery Source website (see it here) commenting that there aren't enough formal studies going on and papers written about the problems with the gastric band, it's just mostly anecdotal at the moment.  There are lots of other inspiring stories on there too, worth taking a look.

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One day this will be an ‘after’ story, but not yet...

I travelled from Bristol to Portland on the south coast last weekend to visit my friend Gaby.  I was on my own, as John had a concert to attend at which he was singing in the chorus. 

The lighthouse at Portland

After a lunch at a café near the lighthouse and a good natter, I started to drive her home.  On the way she asked me if we could stop at the local Tesco supermarket as she needed to get herself some food for dinner.  She didn’t take long, but as soon as we were through the checkout she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to buy teabags.  She asked me to hold on to the things she had purchased, and to wait for her there while she dashed back in looking for the correct shelf.

While I waited, I looked around for somewhere to sit down – I hate standing around unless there’s a good reason.  At the end of one of the checkouts I spotted a flat metal surface at just the right height, and gingerly lowered myself down on it, in the knowledge that it was going to be cold.  And it was, shiny, metallic and freezing.  As my bottom was getting used to it a young lady in Tesco uniform came up to me and said in a loud voice -

“Madam, could I ask you please not to sit there.  It’s a scale, and your weight is flashing up on the screen” – pointing to the large screen above my head which I had not noticed before.

Naturally I got up with not even a glance at the screen as if I was quite used to this sort of thing and was waaaay slim enough to be quite unconcerned by whatever rubbish was flashing on it.  Sigh.

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Photo Finish -

from Lonicera's digital archive

The first two flower pictures are taken in England,

the rest are of Northern Patagonia.

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