Cannot Lah!

Day 17 and 104 kilos

For those of you keeping the score, you will probably have noticed that for the last six days my weight has fluctuated between 104 and 105 kilos. During that time I have completed all my usual chores as well as three bike rides which total 42 kms which is more or less 26 miles for the Brits and Yanks. The first two days of those six were spent without exercise and the only difference to point out, in what's going into me, is the water of two coconuts daily. Does anyone else seem slightly surprised by the fact despite the exercise and the negligible calories - I appear  not to be burning any fat? Very odd. Can it be the coconut water?

I went to my hairdresser yesterday as my daily photographs were accentuating the bouffant hair do. My hairdresser is a respectable chinese "auntie" whose salon is in one of the most unrespectable addresses in Singapore - Orchard Towers (as this is a family show, I won't mention its less formal names). "I'd like a number 3 all over" I said wanting a new trendier hairstyle. She sucked in air with a whistle and somehow managed to sound just like an english plumber when you ask: How much? "There is problem - you have veeeery big body and veery small head. If I do this, you look more stupid. Cannot lah." She then just went ahead and gave me the same haircut that she has given me for the last three years. It might have been easier to take if she hadn't used the word "more".

Here's a link to a nice parallel story to my fast http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17095605 submitted by Charlie Walker who is so workshy that he decided to cycle around the bloody world on the princely sum of two pounds a day rather than get a job and here's a link to his blog which is worth a read: http://www.charliewalkerexplore.co.uk/index.html . Anyway it appears that conditions on the bicycle and in the tent were so appalling that even this slacker decided that working for a living was better than cycling. Apparently he will be continuing on the bicycle soon after his current sojourn in Beijing. I wait with bated and very bad breath.

I forgot to mention also that on Monday I had a quick check at the doctors where I was told that my blood pressure was 121 over 75 and my resting pulse was 63 - that practically makes me an athlete! No food porn fantasies at the moment, my knees are slightly more painful but I'm in excellent fettle despite doing the longer bike ride yesterday.

In answer to yesterday's post, my cousin Jamie posted a comment listing a slightly humourous list of things that I might now be capable of doing since some of the fat has come off. Obviously it's not worth your time reading it and, unfortunately for him, he is coming down from Hong Kong tomorrow night to stay for a long weekend. He will, of course, be receiving a good kicking from his elder cousin for his impertinence. However I digress. Stripping myself of any remaining dignity and specifically for your entertainment - I am ashamed to have to tell you that tying my own shoe laces has been something of a problem for the last couple of years. It has proven to be actually quite painful to do it (my belt really digs in) and without a handy bench or chair , I find that it is not only painful but it robs me of my breath. If I'm wearing hiking boots where I also have to hook the lace around each individual eyelet - I genuinely can't do it unless I sit down. The very happy news is that this is no longer an activity that I must dread - it is positively easy now - thank God for these small mercies.