Facebook Posts January 2022

 1st Jan

January 1st 2022. If previous years are anything to go by, and ignoring the viral push to be frightened of leaving the house, gym attendances will be up this month. Booze will also be capped and hidden away, or given away or discarded. Last cigarettes will have been stubbed out. Waistlines will be inspected, diet sites visited and promises made will be looming. As much as it is sneered at by many, the transition to a new year is a watershed and resolutions are a thing.
Have you made any resolutions, and dare you write them down?

2nd Jan

I've felt I've been getting slack on the writing front lately what with a lack of self-motivation and other factors. Yesterday (a day of sloth watching The Witcher) I decided it time to enact the physical impossibility of kicking myself up the arse. Reading science articles, learning Greek, reading a book and gym time went on hold today. I got up, showered and dressed, made a cup of coffee and went straight to my desk. I'm now out the other side of eight hours working on the book and feeling pleased with myself, though with neck ache and gritty eyes. Same again tomorrow.

 

4th Jan

A bit of sleety snow coming down earlier, which seems appropriate weather what with me feeling as rough as a pineapple today. I suspect 11 days of keto, plus going to the gym for an hour most days, lowered my immune system. As all colds seem to start with me, it's entry point was my left eye, making that sore and gummy with sneezes and snottiness ensuing. This does make me wonder about 'ketogenic diet benefits' since it's been all negative thus far and I should be getting through the worst of it by now. I'll see how I feel after this cold has passed (usually gone in a day or two but with eye gumminess lasting longer). If I'm not seeing benefits soon I suspect I'll be falling headfirst into a packet of crumpets and a malt loaf.

6th Jan

Toy purchased. Now why is it that when my brother Bob visits I often end up spending money?

7th Jan

Ah that's better. Sometimes you need to get proactive to blow the dregs of a bug out of the system. 20 minutes HIIT on the cross-trainer followed by 40 minutes sweating with weights. Feeling good now. Cup of tea time.

7th Jan

Damn, after using my old Ipad then having to resort to a Samsung tablet for some things no longer supported on it, it’s a pleasure using this new one! But what the hell do you do with an old Ipad? Put a hammer through it and bin it?

10th Jan

Meh, continuing dodgy throat, runny nose etc. I suspect I went back to the gym too early. But Paracetamol and Ibuprofen do the job and, as far as colds go, I’ve had worse.

11th Jan

Yay! The postwoman found me! (FB Memory)

Okay, my cold has diminished and suddenly I’m finding energy to clear out cupboards, tidy stuff up and even a shopping trip. But I must resist the temptation to hit the gym and go buggering myself up again. Steak, eggs and vegetables today - at least I managed to stay strict keto despite the urge for comforting carbs - and continued relaxation.
How is your day going?

13th Jan

Medical profession and Big Pharma still want to capture ecigs, while idiot bansturbators want to be rid of them and to continue with methods of smoking cessation long proven to fail.

14th Jan

Buggeration. I’ve been a bit bollixed over a couple of weeks and am only kinda out of it now. It started as a cold whose method of entry (as usual for me) was through my left eye. I felt a bit rough for a day or so, it then seemed to go away so I did some weight training over two days. It came back with feverishness, sore throat and a runny nose. I took it easy and now it’s past. What variety of virus it was I’ve no idea.
Today started with my second covid jab whereupon I returned anxious to get on with some work. I have page proofs of Weaponized to go through, which I thought needed to be done by the end of the month. I was wrong as the email said ‘early this month’. I started looking at these and things hit me in the eye right away. I don’t know whether it’s my state of mind or what but I want to make lots of alterations. I now need more time for these or, as advised by Bella Pagan (Macmillan), to wait until my mind is firing on all cylinders.
I really should trust my past self, who has been through this manuscript a number of times, but I don’t - that guy is a dodgy bugger.

19th Jan

Damn, time for a dirty fast transitioning into a clean fast to give me a boost towards weight loss. With one or two lapses I’ve been eating keto in a narrow eating window but my weight has gone up. This is probably due to weight training because I am taking on the physical characteristics of a brick shithouse. But sadly none of the fat is going away. Lesson learned: a fat adapted keto diet is not the answer for me.

21st Jan

Ooh shiny.

22nd Jan

The ‘plant based’ fashion and virtue signal eh? Meanwhile one must remember that sugar, white flour and seed oils are plant based.

25th Jan

Bits of me aching and sore since this is the second morning I’ve pushed myself to go on a 7 - 8 mile walk. Yesterday, after doing this, I followed up with 2,000 words written, an hour of Greek, an hour in the gym and cleaning and tidying in the house. It’s a reality that when you push yourself to do more you find yourself inclined to do more besides that. It is also a reality that sloth is a downward spiral leading to ‘what happened?’ days at the end of which you find you’ve done bugger all. I now resolve to get things done that have dropped by the wayside during a crappy January.
How’s this month been going for you?

26th Jan

And if kids were taught how the tax system works, fewer would go through the socialist delusional phase of life, or grow out of it more quickly.

At last: a combination of eating keto previously and, each day over the last two, walking 7 miles and spending an hour in the gym, and now 36 hours fasting has put me firmly into ketosis. The strips are into the purple, the breath meter is reading 3.7mmol/L and I’ve dumped 6lb of water weight. Bit of advice here for those who want to try fasting: do it clean. Even a bit of milk in tea is enough to kick in hunger pangs and lead to failure. Been doing this for years and I still need that fact tattooed on my forehead.

I’ve not really been following this but what is the situation regarding Putin and the Ukraine? I got the impression that he was getting tetchy a while back because of US armament/missiles there. If this is the case then all the sabre rattling in Europe and the US at present is hypocritical, since his response precisely mirrors US tetchiness about Cuba 60 years ago.
What do you think?

27th Jan

Just past 60 hours fasting and laughing at the red screen on my ketone breath meter. It’s evident it was manufactured on the basis of medical opinion sans any knowledge of nutritional ketosis - the myth that ketone level can be equated with ‘ketoacidosis’ while leaving insulin out of the equation. Now I’ll go for a 7.6 mile walk to burn off more of my waistline fat roll, in the firm knowledge I could live off my body fat for months without harm and with great benefit.

29th Jan

Excellent stuff. I fasted for 72 hours while walking and weight training each day. Keto stick went to it’s darkest while the breath meter reached 8.3mmol/L at one point. On the evening when I stopped I ate a load of nuts, cheese, meat and raw veg and ketosis continued just below 7.0. The next day I ate two meals: sausages, veg and mushrooms, and meat, cheese and raw veg. Ketosis still stuck at between 6.0 and 7.0. Now this morning it’s still in the ‘red zone’ between 5.0 and 6.0. I’ve dropped about 5lbs (not water because I’m now in a fed state). I may continue today. Certainly I’ll get another walk in and a gym visit.

Just appeared on Twitter. Seven years and eight books ago!

 

Facebook Posts December 2021

 Damn, previous ones were in reverse order. I'll do it the other way round now.

1st December

I wonder if medical exemption from wearing a mask can include: allergic to tinpot Hitlers, scared sheep, medical profession rentseekers and authoritarian cunts?
Just asking.

3rd Dec

Blimey I'm knackered. After various gym sessions culminating yesterday in another half an hour of HIIT I slept 8 hours last night. This morning I got up, showered, drank a cup of coffee, then slept for another 1.5 hours in my armchair. All this exercise is good, the question I have is whether the addition of HIIT will increase my CV health and core strength, or lead me to being stretchered off to the hospital.

8th Dec

This article was 10 years ago and since then it's become increasingly clear that MORE salt is better, yet still the myth persists of salt being an unnecessary condiment that raises blood pressure. The fucking NHS is still coming out with that bollocks. Mentally hard wired 'medical professionals' are sorely in need of a kick up the backside.

Guy fell off a gym machine today and bashed his head (I saw the ambulance leaving as I arrived). Two and a half hour wait for an ambulance, apparently, while he was losing his memory and in a bad way. What did the intrepid medics do the moment they arrived? You guessed it: gave him a covid test.

9th Dec

Nothing quite like slumping in an armchair, weary of mind and body, with all the day's objectives achieved. I'm really going to enjoy this cup of tea.

13th Dec

Hmm, that's good: today is my 100th day of zero booze. I seem to have gone well beyond any inclination for it, but won't relax my vigilance.

22nd Dec

So often I see memes or 'accepted knowledge' that pet owners are 'nice' people and you shouldn't trust people who don't like animals. Bollocks. Many pet owners are the most inconsiderate and selfish people around - oblivious to how the yapping and whining of Rover affects other people, oblivious to how Fluffy digs up and craps over other gardens, when not murdering local wildlife.

26th December

Time for a bit of thinning out of the 'friends' list. So many people on here I have no interraction with - people just gathering numbers. If you find yourself removed and it bothers you, then message me.

27th Dec

Meh. Ketogenic eating is difficult, not because of hunger or carb cravings - I can happily fill up with fat, meat and veg - but the mental aspect. My concentration and motivation are shot. This could be related to the brain missing the punch of easy glucose and serotonin, lack of salt and/or dehydration. Not sure. I do know I feel better mentally with some carbs in my diet, but worse physically. I'm hoping the present malaise is just the set of symptoms called keto flu and will pass. Damn it, it better - I've got work to do! I need focus to fully integrate a thus far 120,000 word manuscript in my skull and finesse a critical theme throughout.

 

Facebook Posts November 2021

 19th November

First time back at the gym in over a year and a half.
Ouch.

8th November

Looks like I'm all Jacked up.

7th November

Bye bye.

4th November

Sea like a millpond, warm and lovely down at Revans and soon I'll set out on the kayak. I can see that the weather is going to be really nice over the next days, just to give me a departing middle finger as I head for the UK.

 

Facebook Posts October 2021

 29th October

I briefly wondered at 4.00 this morning if an earthquake had woken me. Something was wrong. I drifted in and out of sleep but could not get comfortable. It finally impinged this was because I was sleeping on a slope. Why my bed decided to collapse on one side in the early hours I have no idea, certainly not for reasons I would enjoy. 🤣 Wood working tools, screws and wood glue out this morning.

27th October

I got a message request from someone this morning, who went through all that effort to swear at me. Apparently I'd blocked him because of a 'Bernie joke'. This is highly unlikely considering my opinion of that politician but, whatever. Brings home that people are more reactive to a 'public figure', more likely to have their noses put out of joint, more likely to be offended. If people block me I don't even notice - I've got stuff to do. Anyway, I don't block people anymore. If stuff they put up is irritating I do the 30 day shutdown. If the irritating stuff is constant I unfollow. If their comments on my posts start to irritate, I unfriend so they can't comment. Social media: both a boon and a curse. Weeding is necessary so as not to get sucked into constant negativity.

23rd October

In Greece they have an expression 'kala na patheis' which means 'you get what you deserve'. This certainly applies in the case of a self-righteous Hollywood wanker doubtless working on a film glorifying the firearms he apparently abhors. But then one has to step back from the amusing memes and remember that someone died.

20th October

Yup. It's always nice to meet people I've met before: 'Hello Neal, how are you?' 'Hi there! (Who the fuck are you?) I'm fine, how are you?'

13th October

I was taking a look at Instagram, since it is mentioned so often. Kinda looks to me like an app for people who have less attention span than the average Twitterati. Am I wrong?

12th October

FUCK! Now that was an earthquake that had me running for the door! And some cracks in the house just got bigger!

5th October

Over the last week the temperature dropped here from just wearing a pair of shorts in the house to jeans, socks and pullover. Down in Makrigialos I lost the inclination to swim and then after kayaking last time felt cold and didn't want to hang around, also hunger kicked in and I started eating everything in sight. Couldn't get warm today, ate like a pig, napped and then woke up feeling warm, which isn't usual after a nap (while napping is something I haven't needed to do for a while too). Internal thermostat adjusted. Makes sense, since your calorie burn is 50 to 80% BMR and a lot of that is body temperature. I've also been in calorie deficit for a while with a minimum of 2 to 3 hours heavy exercise each day. Much bigger adjustment coming next month in the UK. I'll probably walk out of the airport going, 'Fuck! Fuuuck!'

Facebook Posts September 2021

 1st September

Y’know this Biden character is reflected to greater and lesser degrees throughout the western world. Demagogues and idealogues who prance on the world stage intent on solving problems that exist mostly in the minds of the media, chiseling ‘post-normal’ scientists and internet ‘activists’. They never focus on their job, which is doing the best for their country and the people within it and, disconnected from reality by ideology, simply fuck up when reality becomes gnarly. They also don’t seem concerned about the consequences of their actions beyond the back-slapping of those in their bubble, the media response and/or their term of office. I see much larger clusterfucks down the road than what is happening in Afghanistan.

6th September

Meh. Mood plummeted this morning as an outfall of alcohol the afternoon before last. Some comfort in knowing what my neurotransmitters are doing and what poisons my body is expelling, but I still felt shit. Lesson learned yet again. Observations: I transitioned into asshole mode, interrupted sleep, got out of breath during my swim the next day and had to stop briefly, itching returned to one arm, nagging pain in the chest, upset stomach and squirts, return of some anxiety and depression.
I’m just going to have to ramp it up now. If I lapse again I’ll have to abandon kayaking and swimming and switch to mountain walking, and stay out of bars. Enough.

Okay. New car acquired and I’m loving it!

7th September

lack figs! The tree outside my house is producing nicely but, with my recent stomach upset (still ongoing) I can’t decide whether eating them is a good idea. I may never get out of the house!

8th September

Nice new shiny car and almost inevitably, within a couple of days of buying it, the sky starts clouding up ready to rain and dump Sahara dust on it. That’ll teach me.

9th September

Okay, I got rained on while kayaking today. Summer draws gradually to a close and maybe time to look at booking a flight.

11th September

Since it’s only six or seven months till I have to deliver the next book I’m upping my word count each day. At present it’s up a couple of hundred above the 2,000, but I may aim higher. I’ve never been this far behind before. I’m kinda finding the (self-imposed) pressure invigorating.

17th September

Oh well, bit of an off day today. I got a few lttle jobs done but not the main one i.e. writing 2,000+ words. I think to myself that I’ll do them later, but I’ll probably be knackered and slob out watching You Tube videos. No matter, since I’ll write over the weekend, but still annoying. Analysing, as I do, I can’t put my finger precisely on a cause and, thinking back, reckon the black dog visits me periodically just for shits and giggles.

22nd September

Double prawns again at the Gabbiano Restaurant-Bar.

23 September

Well, lazy day today. It’s been grey and drizzly up here in the mountains (though maybe not bad on the coast) and seemed like a good rest day – besides the kayaking I have been swimming a mile a day for over a month. No swimming and no kayaking today, just some weight training, Greek and reading thus far. Also a visit to couriers in Sitia to pick up a new cover for my Ipad and a bathroom fitting. Oh, and dealing with some NDA stuff I can only shout at the mountains. Now I’ll start writing. Been a good week this far with 7,267 words done and I want to keep on track with that. At 25,000 words into the new book it’s time now to put in page numbers, divide it up into chapters and start a contents list. This, while deciding where to take the story into a particular interstellar war. . .
How has your day been?

24th September

Oh well, now I know why my screen washer wasn’t working: mice had chewed a hole in the pipe in one place and right through it in another. I’m shortly off to get a repellant spray for them, now I know where to buy it. Cheers Mark and Alison Perry.

Facebook Posts August 2021

Not bothering with reposts or pictures here. This is just me storing a few of my old Facebook posts. If you want more detail, then go and find them there! 

11th August

Oops, I didn't realise the time when I went out and swam round the little island. I think the returning pirate ship diverted to avoid me, whereupon a guy onboard whistled to get my attention and waved me towards the beach. I got out of the way sharpish and will pay more attention in future but, hell, would have looked good on the death certificate: run over by pirate ship. 🤣

17th August

Funny how people say you can be tracked by your phone. I got myself a new Samsung to take both my Greek and English sims. It frequently tells me I'm in Agios Stephanos - a village I haven't been to in years. Obviously Papagiannades is too difficult for the poor thing.

25th August

Well well. After having a few drinks at a wedding celebration (and I mean a few - not a few gallons) my count of days without alcohol ended at 71. I started at 1 the day after again but then yesterday I had one beer. Why? Was it because the momentum was gone? Was it because the alcohol was getting its claws back in? I felt great so it wasn't to make me feel better. Did I allow the push of others to affect me? In the end I think it was just one of those 'fuck it' moments. 

Ignore and move on since I won't have negated the positive physical and mental stuff of those 71 days. But I note a couple of things: I didn't like the taste, asshole aspects of my character started to rise, physical control diminished, I had to push myself to get some things done afterwards, rather than simply enjoying them, and I started to feel down as the alcohol went away. Good reminder of why I stopped, and now the count begins again.

29th August

Y'know, I'll often get caught here behind 50-year-old trucks that are half the age of their drivers, and that's okay. The vehicle is probably at maximum velocity and, seriously, you wouldn't want most of them going any faster. But the ones that really boil my piss, here and in the UK, are the coffin-dodgers trundling along in state-of-the-art fat-tyred lumps of tech capable of 0 - 60 in less time than a quack-fart. Listen mate, I know you don't want to wear out your tyres, you want to keep fuel consumption in the green virtue zone and stay at a speed ready for that sharp turn into the cemetery, but some of us have stuff to do, so get the fuck out of my way!

My willpower waned and I bought a loaf of bread. A shitload of cheese-and-onion sandwiches ensued. I guess it's good that 'naughty' for me now is a lapse into carbs and not headfirst into a beer barrel, or inhaling half a bottle of bourbon.