29th March 2014 - Of Weighty Matters, Owls and Pipe-dreams

Saturday, and as we are the last Saturday of March - it necessarily follows that while we get a full measure of hours today - we will be short-changed tomorrow. British Summer Time starts then - being the last Sunday in March and therefore the day when at 1am, we will lose an hour!!

It is a time to recall that on the introduction of the Julian calendar, September 2nd 1752, there were riots across the country as people mistakenly (we think) believed that they were being robbed of 11 days of their lives. Went to bed on the 2nd, and woke up on the 14th September!!

I do not anticipate riots tonight - but will watch with interest in the morning.. Of course, in the days of the Crimson Moon, the time never reached anything other than a quarter to eleven!! so there would never have been a problem ...

But this is also a four week anniversary of my little sabbatical - my dryathalon and minor diet which has achieved as of today a reduction from 15 stone 6 pounds down to 14 stone 4 pounds..  I am not saying that some may not creep back on, but maybe continuing the walk / run to Burry Port and limiting the stodgy food may allow me to plateau a little or even lose a little more. It would be nice to get back to the 13 and a half stone that I thought was a stone too much while working !

I used to be pretty much of a lightweight!!  Honest !! I have pictures to prove it ...  I tried to alleviate the effect of giving up smoking by giving up all sugar six months before my fortieth birthday (the date I had always set to give up my pipe) and I have always tried to restrict my sweet tooth... But 40 to 60 has shown a steady increase..

But today I found out a bit of trivia regarding the French... The French used to have a unit of measurement which was the area of land you could walk round while smoking a pipe of tobacco.
A colleague was in France near Limoges enjoying coffee and asked his French Brethren if they had heard of it. One of those present immediately said that it had to be a 4 gramme fill in the pipe, and yes it is true.  He proceeded to speak for some time on pipes, tobacco, Napoleon and related matters, as it happens that one of his great interests is the history of the use of pipes and tobacco. 
One thing stuck:  Napoleon discovered that those who smoked were less hungry, and therefore cheaper to feed!  He ordered regular issue of pipe tobacco to all troops.  It is certainly true that my weight has increased since I stopped smoking just over twenty years ago.

So before  we lose an hour, I will refer to a present lost by my mother after the last visit of my sister to this country... When she last came here she brought a group of little owls, with little rings, designed to go around the stem of a wine glass to identify the owner... And they immediately flew the coop. We had no idea where they may have gone. Our House?  Her House? Back with the Grandkids??  In the end we gave up until this week, when the offending owls were found hiding in a drawer in my mother's bedroom. Obviously hibernating, or scared by the increasing numbers of meerkats that are invading the house care of a certain Insurance comparison site. 

Wondering what to do with them ... not because she does not drink - rather that there are rarely more than one or two people with glasses in the flat, a decorative blue bowl provided a great location for the owls to gather and be displayed... 

Each friendly little owl has its own place upon the bowl - and in today's sunshine they glinted and gleamed upon the balcony.. However, normally they sit on the chest of drawers above the computer, next to the photos of Paul and Christine from whence they came...

And that seems a good place for them ...

So as we creep up to the witching hour, we will give the night to the owls, and perhaps tuck ourselves into bed before we notice we have lost an hour if not a few more pounds....   Perhaps it is just a pipe-dream...

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