Before 43 Review

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It’s that time of year again. I turned 43 recently. A year ago, I set out some goals for the year. How did I do? 

1) Get 1000 members in Manchester Nightlife 

Well, that didn’t happen. Running Meetup groups is a real test of will: some people who join will become good friends, some will generally be good people but you won’t know them that well, some you’ll meet once and never see again, some will attend regularly but cause enough problems for you to block them from the group, and some will – instead of having a conversation with you - go onto Reddit and drag your name through the mud. It’s a rollercoaster. Still, the group has a 4.6 out of 5 star rating on Meetup. Can’t be that bad. I had 200 a year ago, I’ve now got over 580. We’ve had some great nights out, and I have a plethora of other ideas that I want to do. 

2) See more of Scandinavia 

I travelled to Copenhagen in April last year. Great holiday. I’ve been meaning to try another Scandi capital but I’m only just putting these plans in place now. Looks like Stockholm could be on the cards soon. 

3) A third Viking project 

I’m in the middle of this now, watching tons of Viking dramas on Netflix and working out loads. Steadily getting back to old PBs, and setting some new ones. I’m cooking a lot of Viking recipes, with varying results. This will end when I’ve exhausted Netflix’s Viking content. Still to watch: 2 more seasons of Vikings Valhalla, 1 season of Vinland Saga, and the Last Kingdom movie, Seven Kings Must Die. Throughout this, I’m doing a ton of chin-ups. I must mix more gym sessions in too. The beard is coming on, though. 

4) See other parts of the world 

This hasn’t really happened. I’ve been to Tenerife for a second time, and am likely to go back next year. 

5) Teeline for a month again 

Didn’t get around to focussing on shorthand this year. I need to, though, as I look back over my notes sometimes and they’re utter gibberish. I have improved, though, every time I’ve tried to learn it. 

6) Learn Nunchucks 

This I focussed on for a month in March, developing some competence. Good fun. 

7) Excess Month Again 

I didn’t manage to pencil off a month for living my life to excess. I planned to involve a load of food, drugs and alcohol, and regular blogging, but I just didn’t get around to it. Too much dieting. So an attempt to channel my inner Hunter S Thompson will have to wait. I had tried this in 2017. 

8) Veganuary 

I did go vegan successfully for the month of January. Interesting experience of shopping, cooking and working out. I’m planning to do it again next year, but even stricter, limiting bread and porridge, and focussing on the veg. The aim: hit fitness and weight goals. 

9) Touch type for a month again 

This didn’t happen. Will try again this coming 12 months. I’ve been trying this on and off since 2014. Sure would help in work and with blogging. 

10) Get back into the 30” suit trousers again 

I did manage this at the end of June. I was hoping to have done it in time for a holiday in late May, but better late than never. Predictably, I piled a lot of it back on. With this Viking thing, I’m steadily taking it off again. 78.1 is a long way off 72.2kg, but here we are. 

So. 3 out of 10. Oh well. It was fun.

Veganuary: Complete!

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I love a good monthly challenge. In January I had a go at Veganuary, a month of veganism. No meat, fish, or dairy products. The aims: 

 • get down to 72.2kg and fit back into my suit trousers

 • beat overhand chin-up record • beat underhand chin-up record 

 • beat dips record

 • beat my record for my local 5.4km running route I started the month at 79kg. 

After a month of following vegan recipes, I ended at 73.4. If I’d have just eaten a little less bread, maybe I’d have hit the target. A little less fruit. A little more water. I dunno. 

Anyway, it’s over and I’ve already treated myself to some non-vegan food. Feels good. I worked on the above targets. At the start of the month I tried each of the exercises and made notes of my achievements that time, then spent the month improving on them and trying to get closer to the PBs. I was getting somewhere, but just didn’t get close enough. 

That said, I’ve had bags of energy and sleep has been reasonably okay. The gym classes I’ve done have gone well, and I’ve felt strong and always had enough gas in the tank, so to speak. I attend a local pump class, in which we load up a bar with weights and do a lot of squats, lunges, bench press and bent over rows in time to music. I can load the bar stupidly heavy now – 3 5kg places plus a 2.5kg plate at each end of the bar for the squat track. I’m the strongest member of the class now. 

I tried a few vegan alternatives. Instead of drinking chocolate and cow’s milk, I had cocoa and oat milk. Grim. Tesco’s coconut milk was nice as a drink. Their soya yoghurt tasted like shit. Alpro’s coconut yoghurt didn’t hit the mark. 

Lots of potato and sweet potato made the month more enjoyable. The naan breads and ketchup may have cost me my weight target, though. I have a backlog of vegan recipe reviews, ready to be uploaded on upcoming Saturdays. They were interesting meals, but not favourites. 

And this is what Veganuary has been like: okay. Not exciting. Some of the recipes I followed – in Rukmini Iyer’s The Green Roasting Tin – were pleasant enough, but not that fulfilling. I just love meat. It’s my downfall. I probably won’t go full vegan again, but I will try to throw in a vegan recipe every now and then. 

Yesterday - 1st February – Veganuary was over. I had a halloumi wrap and a ton of B&M chocolate. Then I got drunk, as I’d also partook in Dry January too. No point doing Veganuary for health reasons if you’re drinking too. Staying off alcohol wasn’t anywhere near as hard as avoiding meat, fish and dairy. But even that wasn’t so difficult once you got into the swing of it. 

I’m glad a gave it a shot. You should too.

Last Week of Veganuary

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5 more days of vegan food. Tons of recipes to go up on the blog. 

TV / movie actor Tait Fletcher like my pic of him. 

It’s about time I got the ball rolling again with Meetup events. I’ve revived the long-neglected Manchester Psychology Social Group for another night of vegan food and psych chat. On Wednesday night we’re meeting in Hinterland for some Wholesome Junkies grub and discussions on books, courses, confidence building, mental health and all other things psychology. I particularly want to ask the group their thoughts on something from my past, that I’ve mentioned in the discussions tab on the meetup page. 

Things are moving forward with Social Prescribing, who are helping me with finding social groups, employment, and the benefits system. I have another appointment on Thursday. 

Saturday night, 1st February: Veganuary is over. It’s time for food. I’ve set up a meetup with Manchester Nightlife to try out Mackie Mayor, the food hall in the Northern Quarter offering food from independent outlets of many cultures and a huge dining space. I’m looking forward to some solid meat and alcohol, 2 things I’ve had none of in the last month. We’re starting with cocktails in Stray bar at 7pm. Get involved! 

Meetup isn’t the only platform bringing communities together. A Meetup friend of mine introduced me to Manchester_Social, a group on the platform Reddit. It’s ‘a community for Mancunians that want to meet new people, attend events with new faces & build fresh connections with others residing in Greater Manchester.’ I joined last night, and have followed a link to a WhatsApp group chat. I’ve answered a few preliminary questions, as per their rules, and I’ve joined a few different chat topics: ‘Books, Poems and Everything Lit,’ ‘General Chat’ and ‘Event Suggestions.’ There are plenty of others. I’m hoping we’ll start meeting face to face soon. 

Looking forward to a steak, more than anything.

Veganuary Home Stretch

2/3rds through Veganuary. Going strong. Weight steadily coming off. 

Spoke to Gabby Dawn Allen off Love Island All Stars about anatomy and fashion. Accept the cringe.

I met her in the Freda Funk launch in Manchester 2018. 

Passed 1.2 Million hits on the blog. Thanks for reading!

Roasted Aubergine

I wrote this in November. I'm putting up recipe reviews in the order I cooked and wrote them. 

 

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Enjoyed this recipe from Rukmini Iyer’s The Roasting Tin. Prep time should have been 15 mins; took me 30. My halloumi packet came in 25g lighter than recommended, but it was still the outstanding element of the meal. 

How am I going to cope in Veganuary when I can’t have any dairy or meat?!

Veganuary ‘25

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Well, here we go. Veganuary. A month of veganism. As the site describes, ‘Veganuary is a non-profit organisation that encourages people worldwide to try vegan for January and beyond.’ 

I saw it was happening last year, and made a plan to do it myself in 12 months’ time. Here we are. The aim: better fitness. 

The metrics: 

• Lose 7 kilos. (I’m 79kg. I was 72 when I last fitted into my suit trousers. And I was 76.2 4 days ago.) 

• Beat my local running record, which is a hilly route of about 5.4km. (My record from April is 36:23. I just got 44:04 today.) 

• Beat the overhand chinup record (23) 

• Beat the underhand chinup record (20) 

• Beat the dip record (160) I’ve already offloaded a supply of non-vegan food onto my parents’, so there’s nothing to go wrong with. Here’s the plan: 

• Follow a ton of recipes in Rukmini Iyer’s The Green Roasting Tin, a vegan cookbook 

• Make a lot of soup from the Aldi Super 6 range 

• Visit a few Manchester-based vegan restaurants 

• Work out as much as possible and whack through my Amazon watchlist and a few DVDs 

• Eat the bread that I have, but not buy more 

• No alcohol 

31 days. I’m stopping in February and doing a different project, but hopefully by that time I should be a lot leaner. I can then tick of 2 of my ‘Before 43’ tasks too.