A short note on Lent

I have just eaten a frankly disgusting pile of pancakes.  I don't care; I bloody love them.  My homemade toppings included chocolate spread (of course), peanut butter, honey and Grand Marnier.

Fat Tuesday indeed.  Just as it should be.

So, now Lent.  I went to Catholic school and always loved the whole ritual of Ash Wednesday.  As such, for the first time in a long time, I've decided to take it kind of seriously and give something up.

In fact, I'm going to give two things up.

First: alcohol.  I have grappled long and hard with this, and eventually decided that the grappling itself meant that it was probably a good idea.  I've had a couple of weeks of really heavy drinking - that's what the last week in a job and a couple of weeks of major stress will do.  Drinks in the pub every night before home, half a bottle of wine with dinner, culminating in a 12-hour booze/lunch/shopping-athon with Lou last Saturday (seriously, it's a bit worrying when lunch turns into nearly missing the last train home...).  Still, we've all got to do it sometimes ('everything in moderation, including moderation') and now it just needs balancing out with a bit of the opposite.

This vague idea was finally decided upon after some advice from my aunt, Karen - she is a Buddhist and as such gave up alcohol some years ago.  After my prevaricating on Twitter (mostly about circling events on my calendar at which it would sadden me not to be at least mildly pissed - after all, I've got a trip to the Vuitton Maison and lunch at Mishkin's coming up!), she replied in usual simple and sensible style: 'It's very good not to drink, cos you will appreciate most events much more, seeing them with a clear mind - I promise you!'.  I'm going to give it a go.

Secondly: Negativity.  I'll confess, this is a direct rip-off from my Mum (the women of my family are very inspiring, as you can see!), and she talks about this at her blog What Kim Cooked Next.

I love this idea - another that seems so simple yet effective.

I know I can be a whinger (can't we all?) but that when it comes down to it I am a very lucky girl - it can't hurt to focus on that.  In terms of my writing, I'm hoping that it will help me to get through it and get more done (the epic rewrite awaiting me being one cause of the alcohol-inspiring stress as mentioned above).

Nam myoho renge kyo.  I mean it.