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Weight Loss Victory
Caravan Holidays 1960s
Weight Loss Victory
Weight loss victory – After a lifetime of half-hearted diets started
in sheer ignorance, bolstered by blind trust, at age 40 my aim was
to improve my energy level and clear my head. I had already cut out
all sugar (including that hidden in non-sweet foods), but wanted to
further improve my eating habits and attitudes. Encouraged by a good
friend, I started with food combining followed by juicing. I avoided
unhelpful foods and increased fruit and vegetables. I achieved my
goal, and also lost 2 stone of excess weight as a bonus.
I never
pine for the addictive junk food/junk ingredients I used to eat, and
my previous limited energy to enjoy walking and other activities is
just a distant memory that seems to belong to someone else. Not one
day did I live as an unwilling prisoner on Planet Deprivation. I
cycle up (some) hills and they seem to get flatter all the time.
This approach has worked for me:
– Take an interest in nutrition and health care.
– Act on what you learn.
– Examine your motives each time you eat – don't sleepwalk into the
kitchen.
– Examine the motives and claims of those offering junk or other
foods/ingredients and quick fixes.
– Don't be bullied one single moment longer by your old habits –
your health is too valuable for that.
– Read the ingredient labels as if your health/life/future depended
on it – they do!
Your friends may say, "You're just not the same." The correct answer
is of course, "Spot on, my friend. Watch this space!"
If you have failed in the past, then start small, start now and keep
going! (269 words)
Full article on
http://www.lucypaintbox.org.uk/Victories.htm#weightloss
Red for STOP: stop being overweight.
Green for GO: go out and buy some slim clothes.
Caravan Holidays 1960s
(in 3 parts)
The annual caravan holiday was the highlight of
our year, from our home in South London to the seaside towns of
Clacton, Herne Bay, Seaford or Newhaven. What is now a short day
trip by car was then a huge adventure by coach or train, waiting and
travelling with great excitement and anticipation, and walking with
the heavy luggage to the caravan park. The caravans were all
numbered or had fancy names, and the rows were marked with letters
of the alphabet.
At the site office we collected the keys which were on a very large
keyring, impossible to lose. Opening the creaking caravan door
revealed the delightful prospect of inspecting all the cupboards,
which invariably contained the necessities for eating and cleaning,
as well as well-used boxes of games and a few story books.
There
were just enough blankets to keep us warm. The lighting was by gas
mantle which started off as an impregnated cotton globe. After its
first use, it became very brittle and fragile, and we had to be very
careful not to disturb it during the week.
There were no toilets in the caravans, all
facilities were contained in the communal wash block. Showers were
only just warm enough and we did not look too hard at the tiled
corners in case of spiders.
Water had to be fetched from an outside
tap and the dirty dish water merely went into a large galvanised
bucket underneath the caravan, which we had then to lug to the
communal drain to empty. The grass round the bucket, and under the
site water taps, always grew longer and greener than elsewhere.
All
these were not disadvantages, but added to our enjoyment and sense
of achievement in surviving without the luxuries of home. (294
words) (Continued)
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Our grandparents had saved coins in a jam jar
all year and so we felt like millionaires with a whole ten shillings
each to spend. This would equate to about fifty pounds at current
values. At the site store we bought plastic beach shoes and straw
hats, and invested in a tin of chocolate drink powder that had to
last all week.
We children had beds that felt not much larger than a
bookshelf, while our parents had the fold-down double bed that
filled the centre of the caravan. We fell asleep listening to the
unaccustomed countryside sounds – mainly birds and farm animals –
and total darkness outside, apart from the glowing windows of other
caravans.
The day’s activities ensured that we slept
soundly and by mid-week we had got used to turning over in bed on
the spot, without rolling off. Mornings announced themselves through
the ancient floral curtains and the anticipation of the activities
ahead encouraged us to get up as soon as our eyes opened. The door
was flung wide and the fresh air enticed us outside while breakfast
was prepared, along with the day’s sandwiches.
The sky was intently
studied for offending clouds and plans for the day were
discussed. Rain during the evening, however, was positively relished
as it pounded on the metal caravan roof. Out would come the dusty
and faded boxes of Ludo and Draughts, and we delighted in games by
gaslight, in defiance of the weather. Sitting up late was out of the
question in a cramped caravan, so darkness brought an early bedtime.
(261 words) (Continued)
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Days at the beach were unhurried and consisted of sea, salt and
sandwiches. However hot the day, the sea was always very cold,
unless we found a rock pool warmed by the sun. Damp sand gradually
accumulated in bags, socks and shoes, along with the aroma of
seawater and seaweed.
By the end of the week we had a collection of
buckets, spades, shells and stones with interesting patterns or
holes containing glistening salt crystals. The chocolate powder
seldom lasted beyond midweek, and on the last day we almost
convinced ourselves that we were looking forward to the greater
comforts of home.
The sense of adventure and discovery is permanently attached to the
memories of those holidays, and, in hindsight, we now envy the easy
ability to rest completely from school and work, without the
intrusion of mobile phones and laptops which did not then exist.
A
week spent finding out that we could survive, and enjoy ourselves,
without our house and possessions made us realise that home is
people and not a building.
(174 words)
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