There's an angel on my shoulder - pass the earplugs!

You know that thing? Where someone who's in the midst of a dilemma has a little comedy angel on one shoulder telling them the right thing to do? And there's a comedy demon on the other shoulder, with a little pitchfork, whispering at you to do the bad, but almost certainly more enjoyable, thing?

Both my shoulders are currently occupied.

As Giles pointed out, I should take this opportunity of having lost some weight to make a new start. I mean, look at my typical work day:

Get in. Turn on PC. Get two bars of chocolate and a can of Coke. Consume.

By 11.00, depending on how my day is going, I might have another can of Coke.

Lunch at 12.00. Sandwich, bag of crisps. And a can of Coke.

Back to my desk, and grab a bar of chocolate on the way.

3pm... definitely a bar of chocolate, and possibly a can of Coke to fight off that concentration slump...

Home. And it would not be unusual to have a Pepsi, and some form of chocolate based confection at some point in the evening.

So on a bad day, that's about 5 bars of chocolate and two litres of Coke.

(Reading that back, I'm beginning to think that there may be some kind of link between my diet and my being the size of a house.)

Now the angel on one shoulder is whispering, "Use this as a fresh start! You can probably lose a stone in weight by the end of this. That's great. Say to yourself 'I've gone this far, I can stick with it. I can get healthier.' Don't go back to your old ways."

Meanwhile, on the other shoulder, the little chap from the other department is saying, "Only 19 days and you can stuff yourself silly."

I know who I should be listening to...

But today was a bad day. At lunch, I found myself trying to decide what the first chocolate bar I was going to eat would be.

As luck would have it, Hotel Chocolat opened a branch just down from work not long before we started this whole thing. It's a measure of my sweet-toothed reputation that the day it opened, about 15 people emailed to say "You do know there's a Hotel Chocolat open just down the road, right?" Anyway. The Friday before the great abstinence, I might have popped in there... and bought... a few things.

That bag is sitting by our sofa right now... haunting me.

But I don't think it'll be something from HC that I break my duck with. That sort of stuff needs to be nibbled... savoured...

I'm pretty sure I'm just going to want to cram something in.

At the moment, what I want more than just about anything else is a Kinder Bueno. Earlier on it was a mint Aero. Just after lunch it was a Dairy Milk.

Galaxy!! I've just thought of Galaxy! Or a Topic?

Nope - nuts will slow down the chewing process. Nuts!! Walnut Whip! How could I forget Walnut Whips. Chunky chocolate and yummy goo inside. OH MY GOSH! CREME EGGS!

Can you get Creme Eggs this time of year, or is it just an Easter thing?

Still. I've got 19 days to decide...

On the cash front, you people have been marvellous! And thanks to the Partnership agreeing to sponsor us both too, we now have pledges for just over £917! WooHoo!

Can we make it to £1000? Watch this space.

There's one way we could... The lovely Amy has promised us £1.00 for every blog entry.

And Giles and I can write this stuff 'til the cows come home...

;o)