Quitting HARIBO the hard way

And speaking of “less”, the good news is, I lost weight over the summer, due to a combination of stress, tennis, pilates, running, and more stress. I’m now down 20lbs (or almost 1.5 stone) from my all-time English high (which was reached about three months after arriving in England). It was all the yummy English cheese that put on the lard in the first place. I guess I decided that with this household move, I’d stop eating due to stress, rather than eating more. Highly recommended programme.

I also kicked my Haribo addiction (they have a great “Quitting Japanese Candy” rehab program at The Priory ... or was it at the Betty Ford Clinic?) “Hi, my name is E, and I’m a Starmix addict”. It was easier than you’d think to give it all up.

But there was some bad news: I almost lost my mind, I compromised my principles in multiple ways, and I think I generally sounded like a raving lunatic for at least 60% of the summer.

......AND I wrote no thank you notes to all you fabulous friends who helped out, gave lovely g’bye parties and gifts, and most of all provided shoulders to cry on (why didn’t I offer to pay for your drycleaning, or at least provide towels???) and even stepped in to help me out when it all seemed simply too horrid.

So now I’ll say it, in this very impersonal but heartfelt way. Thank you for all the continuing support. It means a lot, certainly way more than I’ve expressed to you so far. Keeping in touch is the best gift ever, so please do!

PS, back from the game park in one piece... that’s for the next one...