Christmas is over. It was good. I’ve spent over a week doing practically nothing and eating lots. No wonder I have noticeable podge. I’m a thin guy, but I have a beer belly, a gut, a tummy, a small parcel of lard lodged behind my belly button. I think it’s time to start swimming or running again. Some kind of movement at least.

I was at my parents before Christmas, always a recipe for fat. I was there for four whole days, which was really nice. I got to spend lots of quality time with both my Mum and my Dad (who are divorced and resettled in new relationships). Louise came up with me, but had to go back to work whilst I stayed on, so I got to spend time with my parents with Louise and later on my own, which was also nice.

Then we had Louise’s family over for Christmas day, the same as last year. We watched LOTR and Episode II and most of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and ate loads of Turkey. Louise’s MUm had bought a million presents to add to the million we already had. We got lots of kitchen stuff. We had a really nice Christmas day followed by a very quiet Boxing day. I had Turkey fried with Soy and chillis for supper. I thought it might be good. It wasn’t really very nice at all. The day after that I ate an entire pack of sausages, mostly wrapped in bacon. OD-ing on pork ain’t pretty.

Since then Louise and I have been going to shops to get out of the house and not a lot else. First Kensington on Saturday, then Chelsea yesterday (huge pancakes for breakfast), then just Tesco and, of all places, Homebase today. We’re thinking about moving some furniture around and getting a new desk, one big enough for us both to use. As a result of being in shops we’ve been spending money we don’t really want to be spending. I haven’t billed as much as I would have liked recently and I’m going to have to take it a bit more slowly for a while. I’ve got no work really in January as we’re going on holiday for the last two weeks. Come the end of February I’m going to be quite skint. I have savings, but I don’t really want to dip into them. Oh well, I guess that’s Christmas with a credit card for you. I’ve definitely been less careful and aware of my cash levels since I got my card. The fact that I’ve been quite comfortable this year hasn’t helped either. Although, this time last year I was desperately borrowing money from my parents, so at least it’s much better than that. Also, I can never forget that I’m actually in the richest 3% of the world’s population. Something my lard proves beyond doubt.