Wrote 10 pages of Book 8 today, which I was delighted with because I only worked on the book in the afternoon. I was having a barbeque tonight to celebrate the first birthday of one of my uncle's kids, so I had to get ready for that, which meant I couldn't squeeze in a full day's work. I thought I'd maybe get 5 or 6 pages written, but I stormed at it in the early afternoon, after lunch, and managed to whizz through a nice, sharp 10 pages -- excellent!!!!!

Was busy cooking for the BBQ. I had two sets going at once, and I was the only chef, so I was darting from one to the other, turning pieces of meat like mad, trying to stop everything from burning. Found it quite enjoyable actually. Although running 2 was definitely harder than 1, I was able to cook twice as much meat, so finished in half the time it would normally have taken. Even so, BBQs are certainly a lot more fun when somebody else is doing all the hard work!!!!

Had a small panic attack early in the day. I started on the Atkins Diet on Monday, just the 2 week induction course, to lose a few pounds -- I'm a bit chubbier than I'd like to be, and I'll probably gain some weight on my American tour next month (lots of travel and eating, very little exercise!), so I wanted to lose a bit beforehand, so I didn't spiral completely out of control!!! I've always been a bit (sometimes a lot!) on the chubby side. I don't worry about that these days, though I didn't like being considered fat when I was younger. But I do like to be reasonably healthy and able to climb a flight of stairs without having to stop to catch a breath -- hence the diet!!

Anyway, the panic attack was that I realised I couldn't drink beer because of the diet, and, quite frankly, I can't really enjoy a BBQ without a few beers, especially if I'm cooking! (I'm by no means a heavy drinker, but I do like a few bottles at social occasions.) Thankfully, Bas discovered low carb beer, which the diet allows me to drink, and suddenly all was well with my world again!!!!!   :-)   It didn't taste that bad either, which was a bonus!