Have Your Cake & Eat It

Today I held a food amnesty and I ate what I liked. I am holding an amnesty every Saturday but sticking to fruit and salad at other times. This afternoon I had German Chocolate Cake and Pizza, it was nice. Other selected amnesty indulgences will include, cheese fries, peanut butter milk shake and actually thats about it really. Mostly I like eating really healthy food all the time anyway.

Water Signs

Richard & I woke up early and went to the beach. We were on sun lounger by about 11am like Germans which was just as well as by 3 the clouds were rolling in and it was time to go.

We had lunch and got home just in time to avoid 3 hours of straight rain. It really comes down hard here although its not cold.

Sigh

I am missing Stella.

All Is Calm, All Is Bright

The beach was relatively safe this afternoon, the green flag means moderate currents and the purple means  jelly's are go. I have not been in the sea so far I would rather view it with suspicion from terra firma for now.

I walked up to the Northern Point of the beach today, it is much quieter in that direction. There was a wedding on the beach at about 6pm. Very odd, all these wedding planners nipping around like a Steve Martin movie. Then a string quarter trudged by, then a whole bunch of over dressed (for the beach at least) guests came and then the bride and a platoon of bridesmaids. Very odd at first I thought it was going to be a gay wedding because it looked so camp but actually they were all deadly serious and had a proper  Priest etc. Full wedding attire at a beach wedding is not a great look. What worked better was Kurt & Courtney in Pyjamas stoned or Pammy & Tommy in swimwear. Both unions started rather well and ended pretty badly but in principle they were a great and well styled idea at the onset. I don't think the wedding planner had figured out quite how difficult it would be to walk in court shoes across the sand. Anyway all the more amusing for me.

While laying on my towel sniggering this total chancer guy came over and said
'Beautiful eh?'
'Not my idea of a day out, No'

Lunch At Lime

I had my favourite Taco Salad at Lime for lunch. Actually they forgot the taco strips but I just assumed that was God doing for me what I could not do for myself so I left it. In America they chop up salad really small, it works really well. In England we smear ourselves with mayonnaise and generally look like Ermintrude from Magic Roundabout when we are trying to eat lettuce, it is not dignified. Chopped salad is the way forward.

I Can't Sleep , I Can't Breath

I am waiting for Richard, first he said he was not coming, then later on he decided he was. The forecast for New York tomorrow is 10 degrees and rain. Here in South Beach we are looking at 80 degrees and sunshine, difficult decision to make....

David's Cuban Cafe

I stopped at Davids on 11th and Collins on the way home. Cuban coffee is made like expresso with sugar, they put a couple of teaspoons of sugar in each tiny cup. It tastes amazing actually but it is not inline with my weight loss goals to be wasting carbs like this. The girls (figures like bulldogs) do not approve of people asking for no sugar, one is viewed with deep suspicion on this account.

Colour Therapy

Everything is so blue, everything except me.

The Point I Am Trying To Make

Is South Point, my favourite exercise is to walk all the way to the Southern tip of Miami Beach and look at the city across the bay. I didn't photograph it because the view is marred by container ships, cranes and building work. I could have stayed in London if I had wanted to see that.

Milk & Honey

I drink Coconut water on the beach, it stops me from passing out entirely. I like all coconut water but particularly the sleazy spanish variety with the pulp in, its actually less expensive that the more commercial brands as well.

Back To The Grind

Another exhausting afternoon at the beach. If you want a good tan, you have to be prepared to put in the hours...

Lighter Life

Richard told me about a new whole food style supermarket in South Beach so I went this morning to check it out. I bought a really nice looking cheese and berry salad for dinner. The thing with these 'health' markets is that 90% of the products are actually really pretty bad for you. They had the odd bunch of organic carrots, fresh fruit and some dodgy scented candles, however they also had rows and rows of cakes, cookies, chocolate covered nuts and other tempting calorific crap. In effect these places are really just junk food markets for the very rich.

AA Related Announcements

My opinion, if it is not helpful, is not useful.

Love

I spent the morning drinking coffee and reading Richards collections of Love Magazines. Beautiful photography and really interesting short articles on the kind of people I actually want to know more about.  The demise of print media in a digital age has done the world a favour in one way. Only the really good titles survive and the interesting alternative media was always online anyway.

Secrets & Lies

Yesterday after my morning shower I realised that I had not packed my deodorant. I could not remember if you are allowed to put aerosols in checked luggage or not. I know that you cannot pack gas containers but I am not clear on what constitutes a gas container. Anyway in the end I just forgot so I looked through Richards bathroom cabinet for something to borrow in the meantime. I found this hippy shit Tom's stick and gave it a go. It promises the earth, oder absorbing hops (isn't that for beer?) and zinc salt. What utter rubbish by 11 am my armpits actually had BO. I went to CVS with Ryan and bought a Wild Freesia (although it smells like floral loo cleaner actually) Lady Speed Stick for $2 with Ryan's discount store card. It works, I don't smell and my clothes do not need washing halfway through the day.

I Hear The Click Clack Of Your Feet On The Floor

I have a Stray Cat here in Miami. I may have 2 actually, one has a damaged ear and the other ones ears are perfect. I think of them as one and the same creature. I brought along a box of Go Cat from England which they are loving. South Beach is full of stray cats actually, very beautiful ones, Persians, Siamese and all sorts of regular tabbies and blacks. The climate supports them, they do not appear to suffer, plenty of people feed them, they know how to work the system. Even the homeless people around here seem to be better off than their UK counterparts. Not to minimise the broader issues of homelessness of course but I see little groups of vagrant people siting around a laptop plugged into the wiring of a lamppost on Lincoln it looks decided less miserable than the same experience back home.

Morning Has Broken

I love Richards building, its like a 1940's condo and the walkways remind me of The Bates Motel. The first night I feel asleep after travelling I woke in the middle of the night. I had this immense swirling feeling inside, I didn't know where I was. It was as though my body were doing a whirling reset to align me with a new part of the planet. I guess like when on your phone you press the 'get location' setting on google maps. I am reminded of the saying in AA, first you bring your Body, then your Mind arrives and lastly your Spirit joins you. Last night I fell asleep at 10 and I awoke this morning at 6.30 am. It is so peaceful here I can feel my shoulders beginning to relax in a rather sunburnt base tan kind of a way.

For The Music Is Lethal

I am so pale, I had coffee with Ryan this morning and we discussed my tanning strategy. Why I would discuss risk factors with someone who sky dives for fun is another issue altogether. He said I should avoid the sun from 1 - 3, I thought I should do 2 hours 2 - 4. I don't have a clock or phone in my bag so I time my tan listening to tracks on my iPod, this has the added advantage of blocking out the unbearable sound of other people.  I estimate that I did 90 minutes between 2 and 3.30. I think if I do an extra 30 minutes each day I can build up to brown over the next few weeks. My friend Jess is doing a project about replacing chemical products with safer alternatives. She asked me to name the ones I could not do without. Right now Clarins Sun Oil SPF 15 is one. Clarin's Gentle Foaming Cleanser and Clarin's Daily Energiser Lotion SPF 15. The thing I don't understand about SPF's is this, if a product is factor 15 then I understand that it means that you can be in the sun 15 times longer without burning. If you then reapply your product - do you get another '15 times longer' or is it a once a day thing?

Risk Management

Of course South Beach is fraught with danger! Today we had 2 flags, one for dangerous marine life (yuk) and the second for dangerous cross currents. It's almost impossible to relax around here.

There Is No God I Am Alone Here

I saw this man on the way home from the beach.  He was screaming at another guy 'Do you want to see my God?' and the man was saying 'Sure'. The first man says 'Do you want to see a God you can live by?' The second man says 'Yes'. This banter went on for a while and then finally guy number one points at the Sun and says 'There, there is my God, now you show me yours!' Genius.

Nothing Tastes As Good As Thin Feels

Except cheese fries from Shake Shack and German Chocolate Cake from Icebox. My own version of the South Beach diet has begun. I am starting with a kind of a fruit detox.  Breakfast & Lunch were fruit salads, with coconut water on the beach and detox tea at home. Also about 3 large cups of Starbucks coffee which is not something that appears on many diet sheets and yet is an essential component of mine.  I am having dinner with a girl from London - we are meeting at Wholefood's so I should have plenty of healthy options to choose from.

Your Name Is Cherish

As I left university yesterday I saw a student from a class that I totally forgot I was supposed to be taking. She asked me if the class was still on.

For a moment I didn’t know what the fuck she was talking about.

‘Er No, this weeks material was rubbish anyway’ (tell it like it is babe)

‘OK if I apply for a job this summer will you give me a reference?’

‘Absolutely – I would love to.’

‘Do you know my name?’

‘I do actually.’

Then although it occurred to me that I really should go back inside, I kept walking. 

Remember When You Were Young?

Pink Floyd reminds me of my misspent youth life (not something I want to bring up at passport control) but it takes me back to lying on my friend’s floor having been awake for 48 hours straight. We used to play The Dark Side Of The Moon, The yellow Leonard Cohen greatest hits album, Led Zeppelin, Stairway To Heaven & Sunday Morning by The Velvet Underground. I attribute the gentle melancholia and closet optimism of our Sunday dawn playlist to the overall survival of my mental health, what I mean without it things could have been so much worse. 

Hope Springs Eternal

Oh I found a Pink Floyd Album on the music section of the not very entertaining ‘entertainment’ thing. Love Syd Barrett, the plane is bobbing up and down like Dastardly & Mutley’s bi-plane in the Stop That Pigeon cartoon. If being scared would help I would panic instead I am rolling my eyes and listening to Another Brick In The Wall. They have ‘Wish You Were Here’ or ‘Wish I Was There’ in this case on this greatest hits album as well and Shine On You Crazy Diamond. I am suddenly happy. It won’t last long. 

Straight To You

At the airport I access a Eugenist aspect. Despising anyone or anything that gets in my way or slows my transit.  My anxiety turns further to hate, fellow passengers, delays boarding, disgusting food that I have to eat as I am so hungry. I am registering as a Vegan on the flight home. B A do the worst vegetarian food ever – hideous pasta in cream sauce, some crazy bean salad in more sauce and sleezy lemon mouse. Probably a weeks worth of fat with no pleasure at all. Not my kind of an investment frankly. There are no good films on the plane, I watched A Dangerous Method, quite bizarre how a film built around so many good reference points, Jung, Freud, Cronenberg and Sadomasochism could end up being so dreary. A contributing factor though was Kiera Knightly - not a sexy woman at all and the other bloke was way hotter in Shame.  Instead I find myself listening to Kate Bush’s last album thinking she could have quit whilst she was ahead. Plenty of turbulence along the way and I have to shut the window screen because when I look down all I can see is Canada. I did not escape Lancashire to die in Canada – this is definitely not happening.