Retox. no pics.

Had 3 beers and a Chinese meal tonight, including grilled pork dumplings, Kung Po chicken and fried rice.

Tasted pretty good.

Is there guilt?

Nah. I'll do an extra 5 minutes exercising tomorrow. Honest.

Detox. And 2 pics.

I've not had a drink since 1am Sunday.
I've not had red meat since 10am Sunday (and that was only a tiny bit of sausage).
I've been eating falafel, hummus, salad, cous cous, egg noodles, wild rice and wild mushrooms. All organic.
I've been drinking water, Innocent smoothies (though I miss Get Juiced), fresh squeezed OJ and quite a lot of tea.
I work out every morning. I stretch before I do this.

The food thing is hard. I cannot believe that there are people, vegetarians and vegans, that willingly do this, claiming they actually enjoy it. Have they not tasted bacon? Do they not know how tasty a good steak is? Buttered toast & Marmite? Food should be fun and make you happy - if it were just about being healthy then comfort food wouldn't exist and we'd all be living on protein pills. And people who don't care about what they eat? Don't trust those people. The flavour of good food is the flavour of life, and the enjoyment of one leads to the enjoyment of the other. Food should first and foremost be a statement about what you love in life, not some socio-political commentary through fucking tofu. Now granted, I love wild mushrooms and cous cous. And hummus even. In fact - if I didn't like these things I wouldn't be eating them, regardless of detox. But there's something missing; egg noodles are brilliant when fried in sesame oil and served with strips of pan-fried sirloin laid on top, wild mushrooms thrive in risottos (or served on toast having been fried in butter), salads - well, salads are fun when they're on the side of something. So that's my petulant rant about food.

All that said, I feel a lot better for taking a break. I feel good in the mornings (until I do my nordic-track nonsense) and my sleep seems pretty healthy. I still want a burger. Like, right now. I've got some great looking organic mince in the freezer as well. hmmmm. I mean to stay off booze for the week, but I never really made a conscious decision regarding meat.

Chiswick Mall during a very high tide. The River Thames has totally submerged the road. It's quite cool and happens a couple of times a month.

It's not often you see a street lamp in the middle of a river.

euphoric weekend.

This week is to be a detox week. Thursday, Friday and Saturday night haunt this Sunday with a combination of total exhaustion, reunion revelry and that emptiness that comes when one says goodbye to old friends after too short a time together. My body aches from dancing like a total lunatic.

Still, just seeing the gang was incredible. The friends there I've known for 11 years, and the good times just keep coming. Albeit not quite as frequently and with longer subsequent recovery periods... ah well.

It was a lovely wedding and I felt so happy for the mr & mrs that I surprised myself. I try to be grumpy and cynical about everyone getting married all the time, and the hassle, and really I'm just a total softie. Well done to Luke & Ang.

Oh, and if you're ever in the Blue Velvet in Newcastle, ask for "Cluuhhr". Honest.

Matfen Hall - lovely location. That's Guy, the best man coming out to greet us.

Left-to-right: Guy, the best man, Luke W, the groom & Mark, usher and Luke's older brother.

The happy couple, all married and everything.

Ric Clark, singing to the chocolate fountain. Yes, you read that right: a flowing fountain of chocolate. It was amazing. I shall refuse future wedding invites should they lack one of these for late evening entertainment.

That's me and the lovely Julie D - she's a total legend and lovely in spite of being Belgian. She inconveniently lives in Leeds and with someone. Ah well...

I love the look on Luke's face for this picture. It looks as though he's cut the cheese as well as the cake.

The first dance was lovely. There were tears.

Adam Bissill, our very own pet pretty boy, tearing up the dance floor. I don't see him often enough; he makes me laugh by breathing.

This is my favourite picture of the whole day - taken on the coach ride back to our hotel. Classic Jamie and Guy.

This has been an inarticulate post. That's due to a pretty heavy weekend. The pics aren't that great because Saturday was a swift progression from being hungover to being drunk again. But I think that's a testament to an amazing weekend and wedding. If I'd been all poetic and succinct about everything, it meant I wasn't enjoying myself enough.