Some ideas are better off staying in my head

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."  Sometimes it seems I say that, or at the very least think it, quite a bit. My "See-food Diet" was no exception.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

It wasn't.

It was a pain.  Entering calories into an app is far easier than taking a picture of everything you eat.  Often times I would just plain forget to take the damn picture.  A few times I ended up with pictures of partially eaten meals or empty plates. In the end the pictures I ended up getting of my meals just didn't look as tasty as the food actually was. Nor were they in any way aesthetically pleasing (my Martinis look much better when photographed) and posting pictures of my food to Flickr every night, when what I really wanted to do was go to bed, was annoying as hell.

But the main reason why I am leaving the "See-food Diet" behind is....(drum roll)...I gained a pound and a half, not exactly the result I was hoping for.

So what did I learn? 1) I probably eat probably too much sugar and white flour.  2) I need to drink more water.  3) I eat a good amount of fruit and veg, but could probably eat more. 4) I eat less at the beginning of the week and more on the weekends, and 5) I might drink a smidgen too much on the weekends.

I now return you to my regularly scheduled diet where I need to monitor everything and not just take a picture of it...well eventually.  Not right away.  I've some indulgent social plans within the next few days.

There will probably be more picture of Martinis.

What NOT to say to a woman walking alone in Whitechapel

The other day I was walking along Whitechapel High Street at dusk, just running some errands before shops closed.  Suddenly, out of the blue, a man stepped in front of me stopping me in my tracks.  He was "my type", tall and blonde and rather good looking, except for what I identified later as a slightly crazy look in his eyes.
"Excuse me," he said in what I think was an American accent.  I may be American myself, but I've been known to get Limerick accents mixed up with American accents, and even I cannot, at times, distinguish an American accent from a Canadian one.
"Yes?"
"You know Jack the Ripper, yeah?" he asked.
"Well, not personally," I responded. I can't resist quips like that.
He laughed a bit, but went on, "I mean, you know who he is, yeah.  He lives around here, right? I mean he did all his killing around here, yeah?" and then he smiled strangely. 
"Uh, yeah," I replied, "around here...uh...there are walking tours you can book," and with that I scurried away.
The whole exchange creeped me out a bit. Part of the reason I love living here is because of the history of the area, but I don't really need to be reminded as I'm walking alone while the sun is setting that there was once a serial killer, who would essentially fillet his female victims, working in the area.
This guy was probably just a tourist and didn't think that perhaps a woman walking alone at sunset isn't the person you want to randomly ask about Jack the Ripper.  But, as I said he did have a slightly crazy look in his eyes and his smile was a strange one.
I had planned on walking home for the exercise, but after that I took the bus.