THE MUNCHIES

Do you ever have those days when you could eat just about anything - and everything - in sight, and still hunger for more? Today was one of those days for me.

I'm not sure what alignment of stars leads to having an Insatiable Stomach Day, because they never seem different from any other day in terms of activity level or any other obvious culprit. But today I was ravenously hungry when I woke up, breakfast barely made a dent, and all I could think about for the rest of the day was food, food, food.

It's funny how I can be involved in other tasks and suddenly my stomach speaks up: FEED. ME.

NOW.

When one spends their day folding clothes, with not much occupying their mind, it's amazing how difficult it is to drown out the stomach voice. Humming Christmas tunes along with the store soundtrack is barely up to the task. Dancing to the Christmas tunes works slightly better but tends to elicit worried glances from the shoppers.

Most days - in fact, about 95% of the time - I thank my lucky stars that I was born with the metabolism of a hummingbird. I sure love to eat, and dread the day when I have to start counting calories. But the flipside is that on the days when the munchies strike, I could eat everything in the grocery store, including the carts. I am ashamed to admit that today's munchies lead me down a sordid path to Burger King, where I furtively feasted on a Whopper Meal. The whole experience can be summed up by one of yesterday's new words: manky. And I was still hungry afterwards!

Amusing anecdote: when I was a little girl, Dad had me convinced that my huge appetite was the result of a "hollow leg". For YEARS I secretly wondered which leg was hollow! Funny how you can look back on your childhood and remember these weird thoughts you used to have.

You won't see a new entry for a couple of days now as Ray and I are off for a mini-holiday in Norfolk tomorrow and Wednesday; we are staying at a B&B in the teeny village of Great Cressingham. (We think it is called "Great" Cressingham because it has a street with a name: "The Street" - truly I am not making this up - and "Little" Cressingham doesn't appear to aspire to those dizzying heights of urban development). Promise to take lots of photos and tell you all about it when we get back!