Anniversaire, Amoré, Aguilera and The Aftermath

Phew ! What a sensational, satisfying and sleep deprived 8 weeks I have had. Since my last blog, we have celebrated BMM's 70th birthday in a way that made the Queen look deprived...there was the Tayto Park party, the Summer Pink Party, the Night at the Races Party and it was all topped off with the most fantastic 5 days in Verona and Soave with my sisters The Mad One and the Ambassadrice with the birthday girl BMM, The Line Dancer and Madame Corsica. We had a ball, ate wonderful food, flirted with Italians ( well The Mad One did!) and did our best to sample to produce of every local vinyard ...we did a pretty good job ! The Line Dancer does an amazing impression of Don Corleone and repeatedly uttered " Respect the Family" in a guttural low tone, usually when slightly inebriated.Turns out staying in an actual winery encourages this state...who knew! Having touched down at the airport The Mad One and I, having left our 3 costume changes in the boot of my jeep, headed straight to the local community centre for Lip Sync full dress rehearsals and were reunited with ,our brother from another mother, Legs Levins....he had totally missed us ! Turns out 5 days drinking in Italy had not affected our performance and in the Saturday night results, we made the top 3 !!! We might have been helped by a little friend of Legs Levins who made an appearance through the the tight semi see through white skirt he was wearing much to the hilarity of the crowd. The compere suggested he may be Candyman but he had a stick of Rock down his skirt !!
So, having celebrated big birthdays and a big show, I settled down to complete my final assignments for my Coaching Diploma, knackered but happy. Assignments submitted, final module attended and a video examination and I am now a fully fledged Life, Career and Executive Coach !!! Way hay !I finally made contact again with my girlfriends who had begun to think I had emigrated and settled back to ordinary life for a while....turns out all this activity, the driving to Dublin, sitting in lectures, eating takeaways at Lip Sync and generally losing the run of myself in Italy had left it's mark...on my scales !I may be successful on stage and in academia but a total failure on the weight maintenance front...... 6 lbs have been added to my already substantial frame, my previously toned muscles are flabby and I am currently typing with the top button of my jeans undone. My final undoing was of course Hurricane Ophelia . GASP a man who is great in these situations finished work early on Ophelia Monday and popped into the local supermarket for emergency supplies ie. batteries for the torches, matches for the candles, extra milk and bread....but no ordinary bread....a Brennan's Batch Loaf !!!! He may as well have brought home cocaine to an addict ! I was undone.....in the midst of the wind ( not really that much actually ) I prepared myself for a possible power cut and being unable to leave the house by consuming two thick toasted slices of batch slathered in butter with a cup of tea...Oh Jesus ! I was going on the hibernating bear idea of fat storage and it appears that I have in fact done a damn good job, as 6 lbs of fat now line my waist in preparation for winter....well the time has come....ENOUGH ! I am committing to losing those 6 pounds...o.k. let's make it 7lbs by this time next month...Gentle Gary's new Metafit class beckons even though it might actually kill me...I will start with a long walk tomorrow once Brian blows over...no, not a euphemism !