Actually it was my monthly Book Club meeting so I didn’t avoid the World Cup, it was more that I was so happy to have an evening away from the noise of the drone of Bees i.e. the Vuvuzela and the Old Man watches every match. I am a supportive wife and am happy to watch England, matches in our group and any team who has some fit players but not every match…..

Our book club is made up of an eclectic group of ladies of various ages with a common factor that we all live on the banks of the River Thames. I tell you this because it is important that you understand the setting as it is not always books that we talk about. At the last meeting we discussed the love life of our lock keeper which has always been quite colourful but seemed to be reaching a peak however it appears that our source may have got it wrong!! So you can see it is not necessary to have read a book to attend our club, just have some interesting knowledge to impart and the lock keeper definitely fell into the latter category. This week one of my neigbours discussed the Dukan Dietwhich she is following with her husband and it seems to be working for them both. It is a French diet and they do say that French women never put on weight! It involves a week of eating all protein, no fruit or veg, which I imagine is tough. Then you do introduce a bit of veg the following week. Eventually you are allowed fruit but only one portion per day and no bananas, raisins or cherries. My friend is looking great and is down to her optimum weight but is continuing the diet though she did have a ‘celebration day’, which is allowed occasionally, and had some wine and a couple of tiny meringues with rasberries and cream. I think the problem is that I would have a ‘celebration day’ every day! It appears quite strict but I gather it is very easy to follow even if you are going to work or eating out a lot.
When we formed our book club we said no food but gradually the food has crept in so you can understand why we were all so interested in the book of the Dukan Diet. However our lock keeper who, as I mentioned, is quite popular with the ladies seems to have not an ounce of fat on him and now that locks are electric there is no effort required to open and shut the gates so maybe the ‘Love Game’ is another way to keep trim which also explains why French women never put on weight!