Update

Ok so since I wrote last year a few things have happened. Got married in September and went on honeymoon in March to Jamaica. It was 2 weeks all inclusive and I ate more than my fair share of food and weighed around 63-64 Kgs when I came back. I've lost one or two Kgs since then but still have a bit of a belly.

When we came back from Jamaica also found out that Elise is pregnant. All is going well at the moment and the baby is due on 21st November. Elise is mainly well, but very hungry constantly and has a sore back too.

Also two days ago we had an offer accepted on a house we like. Hopefully we'll be back in Manchester in 8 weeks time and I can stop doing the hideous travel to work from Stoke and Elise can stop driving ridiculous distances to Leicester too.

Back to it

Ok, so its been a while, a long while. Lots has happened and is going to happen. I will write about it.

I reached my target also, weighing around 62 Kgs at my peak.

Tuesday 14.11.06

B: Tea and toast
L: One hand and cheese sandwich and one coronation chicken sandwich
D: Pan fried lean steak with boiled courgettes and boiled corn-on-the-cob
E: Played badminton singles for one hour, and it was very tiring!

I am hoping to play badminton at least once a week again now.

Monday 13.11.06

B: Tea and toast
L: 2 ham and cheese sandwiches plus a yoghurt
D: Roast chicken with cheesy nachos
E: None

Sunday 12.11.06

B: Tea and toast
L: Oven cooked fish & chips
D: Oven roasted vegetables with chicken breasts
E: I spent most of the afternoon and early evening tidying a couple of rooms. This involved lifting many heavy boxes upstairs etc., which left me very out of breath!

Saturday 10.11.06

B: Two slices of left-over pizza (Mmmmm!)
L: Salmon in a cream sauce with tagliatelle
D: Irish stew
E: None to speak of, except cleaning the house and doing a bit of shopping

I need to get back into good habits, i.e. eating larger portions and doing some exercise.

Back to Work

I haven’t written for while, but will right that wrong.

I registered with the doctor here in Stoke last week, and I had to have a quick health check with the nurse first of all. My blood pressure was slightly elevated at 140/80, but more interestingly I weighed 59.4 Kgs. This accurate weight however, included all of my clothes. The last time I weighed myself I was about 57.4 Kgs, still some way off my goal.

Now that the nights have closed in I think the time is right to sit at home and eat of an evening. I am setting myself the goal of 60 Kgs by Christmas day – that gives me 44 days to gain 2.6 Kgs. Watch me go.

My Foot!

This weekend we went to Ikea and bought a few things, among which was a bookcase. When we arrived at the pick-up point there was a sign suggesting that because the item was over 25 Kgs, two people should carry it. When we finally got things home I began to assemble the bookcase. Whilst extracting the first shelf, I managed to drop the whole of the box on my foot.

It feels like it may be broken, but all Elise can do is laugh at my limping.

I had to limp to work today. And limp all day at work.

Wedding

Well the wedding went well, but all too quick.

Some photos to illustrate my words can be found at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.cullen

My family and friends started arriving in Charmes on the Thursday and slowly built up in numbers until Saturday morning. People started to arrive at Elise's parents around midday. We had all been busy in the morning: setting up the room for the reception; Elise and her mother had their hair done; and I went and bought some flowers and met people who had arrived in Charmes.

The legal ceremony was at 15.30 and Monsieur Munier, the Maire of Gripport, married us. Before the ceremony, whilst we were waiting for everyone to walk to the town hall from Elise's house, Mr Munier, who knew we live in Stoke-on-Trent from the paperwork we had sent to him, told us that he had been there twice for races (10 km runs I think) and he very much enjoyed the city. He then produced a biright yellow t-shirt with some pictures on it that he had as a souvenir of the race, and held it up proudly as evidence. He said he had a tie also but had not brought that to show us. Whether this was a ploy to calm any nerves, or just a well natured gesture, it gave everyone chance to get to the town hall.

The ceremony was simple and quick. After welcoming everyone to Gripport, he read the French law concerning marriage, and surprisingly I could understand the majority (some) of it. Whilst stood there in front of him I suddenly had a thought and started to panic - what if he asks me first if I accept Elise to be my wife, and I don't understand or say something wrong! No sooner had this thought appeared in my head, I heard him ask Elise if she accepted me as her husband, and her head and body nodded and she said "Oui !!". This was my cue. After signing the documents and saying thank you to him, we went outside for lots of photos.

The next stage was the church, which is a five minute walk away. Marie-Claire and Bernard (aunt and uncle of Elise's and godfather too) gave us a lift there. Whilst Elise loitered outside and we both waited for everyone to make it to the church I decided to go in and say hello to Father Andre and see what was what. I had expected the church to be empty, or only a couple of people in there, but to my surprise there were probably 20 strangers sat down watching me come in! I went to speak with father Andre and gave him one of the certified copies of our wedding certificate which Mr Munier had given us. We had met with Father Andre the previous Monday and devised the running order of the service. I had translated the two readings into English and the Our Father too (it was harder than I thought it would have been to remember the exact words!). After a couple of minutes people started to filter in and take their seats. I made sure I had a copy of the mass book and my notes for my welcoming speech and our private prayer. Elise had threatened to make me wait for a long time before she would come in, but thankfully her father was keen to bring her in quickly! I had only been sat down one minute when the music started and I could hear everyone standing up. Elise's cousins Frederique (playing the organ) and Jean-Nicolas (playing the cornemuse, which is a Belgian version of the bagpipes) played Schubert's Ave Maria beautifully.

After Elise came in the ceremony started and we took our seats. Father Andre talked for five minutes and then it was my turn to get up and welcome everyone in English and say a few things. Elise did the same in French. We had two readings which were read in both languages (Kieran and Ben read the English ones), we said a few prayers, Elise and I had to read out personal prayers, the priest spoke a lot and there were a few songs. When it came to the giving of rings and exchanging vows, again I was struck shock at what I had to do – I had forgotten that I had to say the vows in French and had not practised them before! My pronunciation was poor, but thankfully it was all written down in the mass books so everyone could follow. Catherine, Elise's mother, had made a lovely mini pillow with a cross-stitched pattern on the top, to which our rings were tied. Milo and Paul brought the cushion to us. I managed to get the correct finger on the correct hand and put the ring on. It all seemed to go very quickly and in no time at all we were up at the front again signing the paperwork.

That's all I have time to write about now, but will describe the reception later.