Goodbye 2012

2012 has certainly been an important year under many fronts.

On the personal side the engagement under the full moon in Santorini in August was definitely the key highlight, so looking forward to the big day in 2013! Bridezilla in the making, and I LOVE it!

Buying our first flat (a flat of dreams I must add) was a big step as well (so grown up!) and we have been very happy living the village life in Darlinghurst.

On the fun front we have had a lot of partying and travels, kicking off early in the year with Mardi Gras during Luciano's visit, a fantastic trip to Tasmania in February, a reality TV show stint in Mykonos in August with Jaimee, Gavin and Mishail's wedding (plus hen night with me coming out of a box) in June and August, Hunter Valley a couple of times,  and the build up to Christmas and New Year with visitors and friends. There has certainly be a lot of exploration of Sydney foodie scene - with some new gems being discovered and reviewed.


New friends were made in the year - Darlo coming to mind - and 'old' ones were cemented even further, both here in Oz and obviously back home in the UK. I love the fact that even though I might not see the people I care about the most very often, whenever I do the love and affection are always invariably there.

When we moved to Oz part of me was freaking out that the sporadic phone calls were going to be the things which would keep the friendships alive and I always felt 'performance fear' every time I spoke to someone - I let go of this and happily discovered that people connect on a level that goes beyond how good a phone call is. And that connection is not something you turn on or off. It's there, and distance and time only affect frequency of interaction, rather than the underlying feelings people have for each other.

I was lucky enough to go back to London a few times, and had a great time catching up with a lot of my friends (unfortunately not all!). A dinner in Bermondsey with Marta, a few flat dates, a Sbari searching meal etc etc were a few of the highlights. Love you all!


On the business front I have enjoyed a promotion to the APAC senior leadership team in May and a number of trips around the globe, including Hong Kong, New York, London and Singapore. Work has been good and despite I don't wake up wanting to skip into the office, I feel that I have grown professionally and I am excited about where I am taking things next year. I have certainly learnt a lot about Asia. But perhaps the most exciting thing under this front is the possibilities that both Patata and I have been building for ourselves and our life, especially following the Landmark stuff we did and Patz saying 'basta!' the the bout of crap work experience he had.

As usual my family has been there for me, always being the rocks I can always count on in my life. Grazie mille! Interesting to see that a few years after dad passed away we are all still going through the process of processing it all, a step at the time.

The fitness front has been good - I think I have managed to average 3-4 training session a week, and I managed to bench 80kgs which for me is great. The love for party and booze being the 'only' obstacle to my beach babe look (ah ah).  Planning to look delicious for the wedding!

So, all in all 2012 has been a year to remember, with both its pleasures and challenges! Bring on 2013 - the year of possibilities! 

Two Years in Oz

In a few days we will mark the second anniversary of our move to Sydney.

Almost two years ago we were queuing in Buenos Aires  for that Qantas flight that started our new life here. I still remember that feeling of fear and excitement whilst looking out of the plane window onto the endless alien expanses of Antarctica as we made our journey here.

And so here we are, two years later. Whilst from one side it would be easy to fall onto the usual 'I cannot believe two years have already passed!', from another it feels like a lot of things have happened and evolved over the last 24 months.   Time often seems to have two speeds - the one we recognize, and the massive portion we don't or choose not to notice.So, yes, it does feel like 2 years.

Starting a new life in Sydney has been both a challenge and an opportunity.

The main opportunity was personal growth, which often does require challenge to occur.

In other words, when we are settled in our business as usual our rate of growth more often than not slows down. On the contrary, a move to the other side of the world, where we only knew a handful of people and were not really sure how anything worked proved to be a steep learning curve.

It was not easy to make the jump and turn will into reality - but I have always thought that decision making is a waste of time if there is not a decision at the end of it.

So we did it.

Not all of it was exhilarating: I still remember a very long time spent at a HSBC branch trying to convince a woman who could barely speak English that I was worthy of a bank account. All those manual forms still haunt me in my dreams. Not dissimilar to the same conversation I had with Natwest at the university campus in 1999!

Since then it has been a roller coaster, made of exploring this new city and falling in love with it to the point that it now feels home, missing our good friends back in London, buying our very first flat of dreams down under, starting exploring Australia, New Zealand and Asia, trips back to Europe, having friends over, discovering our healthier selves, making a life long commitment under a setting Greek sun, going from not knowing Singapore at all to going there all the time, working hard and learning how to take 11pm work phone calls with England without falling asleep, getting closer to the family here and little Jack.

All in all it has been amazing. Do I feel different? Yes I do. Calmer I would say, and different in many other ways, but then  again I am not sure whether it is because of Sydney or it would have happened anyway.

I was asking myself how life would be like if we had never made the move. How would it feel like?
The reality is that we are fortunate enough that life would have probably been great anyway.

I imagined that 'other life', those Ratz and Patata - possibly still in London, having bought a flat and getting ready for the big day. Complaining about the weather and the tube no doubt like all other Londoners.

Not knowing how this life would have been like, possibly not doing all the new things that we have done (somehow going to a strawberry farm in Tasmania pops into mind as I write - of all things!).

It was strange to think that this Piero can so easily imagine that Piero - whether or not things would have really turned that way or not- but that Piero could have hardly known or imagined the life this Piero has made on the other side of the world. If the two of us met, what would we tell each other?

The thought made me smile - it's like we have lived two lives at the speed of one.

Stay Past

The cliff seemed to be bottomless,
the sea like a black vortex below us.
A calling to a portal
that promised we really could go far.
When words create our futures,
the world often just wants us to stay past.

We want to slow it down
and will it to be silent,
but strangely we end up shouting
and going fast.

That's when we just chose love 
and all the things so possible down this black cliff.
That's when we held our hands and jumped together.
A fifty dollars note was blown towards the stairs.

Those moments of declaration
are when we start becoming something else,
perhaps just genial invention,
a Saturday sunflower down at the market,
a minute of pause whilst waiting at the station.

(Piero Bassu, November 2012)

Sunsets and Dawns

A quick trip to Europe. November 2012.

I left Sydney during an early summer evening, at dusk, the sky alight with bright reds and deep blues, the sea manacing and rough  under the last sun rays. How can Australia be so immense and restless at the same time is still somewhat of a mystery to me.

A day later I am landing into Rome on a light blue winter dawn, the Mediterrenean quiet and silent underneath me, the green and white of the Appennines on one side, fluffy patches of fog covering parts of the valleys below like blanket. It is the 9th of November. Barack Obama has been elected again as the USA president a couple of days ago.

Italy looks like such a beautiful place from up here, it is almost impossible to imagine what a troubled country it is, how its former glory is nothing but a story far away in the distance. On the contrary, it feels like Australia's story is being written now, its twists and turns so unpredictable, its sense of possibility alive.

Never like this time the small magic spell that is coming back home has hit me, a strange feeling of travelling through space, time, seasons and lives.

Off the Escalator

When my colleague Lucy kept insisting I'd do the Landmark Forum, after a quick Google search and the word cult popping up on my screen I decided it would be a marvellous idea to check this out for myself.

Lucy kept telling me she was 'committed' I'd do it - which back then sounded like a strange turn of phrases. I told myself that I signed up for it more to get her off my case than anything else.

'It will be good' I said 'to take a couple of days off and reassess', whatever that meant. I was quite clear that my career needed reassessing, but I did not really know what that entailed.

I kept telling my dear ones that at work I felt like I was 'stuck on an escalator' - I was going up but I felt like I was not the one in control. I had this feeling that I was meant to do something else. I felt like something that was not doing what that something was meant to do.

'I will come out of this with a couple of good pointers' I thought. I was ready to go in, learn a couple of things and then use them in my life to do what I did, just better.

The Landmark Forum gave me something completely different. I did not 'learn' anything as such, but I saw things that until now had been outside my view. Once they came in view, they did not need to be learnt - they were just there. A bit like riding a bike - until you know how to do it you cannot even phantom how it all works, but once you learn, that's it - you can just do it always.

Things came into my view that made me realise that it is not just the things that are burdening us that limit us and our happiness. Even the things that we are amazing at have already defined what we will be for the rest of our life - like a golden cage that we are not aware to be trapped in. Here was my 'escalator'.

And not only did I see this, but I could also understand how I have ended up in that golden cage and why - just by trying to do more and better - really did not do anything in the way of freeing me.

All this came to view and suddenly I was not the guy in the cage. I was an observer of that guy. I was looking at him. And as an observer I could go to that cage and just open it. Unsurprisingly it was not locked - I had never realised the door was open either.

I am not going to try to summarise what and how this path works, because I could not do it justice. In practice it is an intense three days sitting in a room with people you have never met and with organisers that are ever so keen about punctuality and that seem to be very committed for you to 'get it'. You don't take notes, there is no mention of any religious or otherwise belief system, you do not learn anything (like you did at school), you don't have to say a word if you wish so. You just sit there and allow yourself to be led down a path.

What I will say is that it was through this path that I realised that the key to 'reinvent' ourselves is not trying to do more, less or different from what we have always done - to try to resolve all the things that make us upset. This is quite simply because that upset exists still now everytime we try to get rid of it through these 'better, less, more or different'. That upset is the comparison term that we keep bringing up over and over again.

And the way to reivent ourselves is not either allowing the strengths that we have got to predifine what we are and what we are going to be. 

Reinvention comes from a place where all these things are just that- things. These things are there and we can look at them without having 'to be' them. And if we are not them then we can be something else - something different, something we could never have imagined we could be.

Summer beginnings

Almost gently the Sydney summer is taking over the blue skied Spring we have just had. It is 2012 and a man has just beaten the sound barrier whilst sky diving.
The city seems abuzz with people out and about, exercising for summer, sipping coffees in the numerous city cafes' and generally enjoying that feeling of energetic transition towards the most active time of the year. The queues at gelateria Messina are getting longer and longer. Rooftop bars are being chosen over pubs.

Whilst temperatures are still seldom going above 25 degrees, the sun seems more vigorous and determined every day. The Australian sun beats down like it means it. Bondi and all the other beaches are getting busier and posier. The grass is greener and men walk around without wearing suit jackets.
Walking to work in this beautiful atmosphere is amazing, though staying in the office gets harder! Even the CBD seems brighter and less soulless.

I am very much looking forward to this summer. If what they say is true - ie. that la ninha has finally retired for the time being - we should have a scorcher of a time. Like last year we are preparing to receive a number of guests, and now that we have been around for almost two years, we are in place to show them Sydney more confidently. The first on the list are John & Sharon.

Mad Hatters

Last night, as part of Rachel's birthday celebrations, we went to this themed Mad Hatters thing in Waterloo, Sydney. It was held in a warehouse space converted into a pop up restaurant.

The room was cool and eclectically decorated with old TVs, chandeliers, candles, tea cups of all sorts and bits and bobs. This was a pre booked event, so you just turned up and end up sharing two long tables with strangers. Out party consisted of six people. The organiser (the Mad Hatter) worked the room, offering friendly banter, prosecco and wacky canapes, including beetroot candyfloss and parmisan popcorn.

The three course meal (with matching wines) was as wacky, the slowly cooked beef cheek standing out as the best bit.  We spent the evening drinking wine and talking no sense.

All in all it was a lot of fun. It is great to see that Sydney can offer these type of things and events. It made me think of London, of a night in 2010 spent in pop-up restaurant that reproduced a small town street. It also made me think of my last Mad Hatters party, for Laura's hen night in London. Back then I wore bunny ears, this time I was a pilot.

White pages

When I was ten I decided I wanted to be a writer.

There is no particular reason why that happened - I remember looking at the white pages of a note book and thinking that I really felt like filling those pages. It was a mixture of excitement and sadness - because I remember thinking that those white pages were waiting to fulfill their destiny. Though I suspected my output might not be the best those pages could do, I still felt that doing nothing was wrong.

The first thing I wrote was a fantasy story. The baddie was called Singer- after my mother's sawing machine. It is the usual hero tale (the hero was called Erik, with a K) with a twist: at the end you realised that the quest Erik has completed to allegedly kill Singer was actually designed to free Singer from his prison - genius. At the end Erik realises that all the people he has eliminated on his way had been good guys trying to stop him from doing the wrong thing.

I wrote my first poem when I was 13. It was an atrocious mess called 'Life' (La vita). For some reason I shared it with my Religion teacher at school - a priest whose name escapes me now. Don Something.
He never commented on it.

Other gems include the short book written by my late good friend Misael and I. It was called 'Perhaps' (Forse) and it was the story of a group of friends that grow up together and then meet again as adults. It is meant to be a delightful weekend in a cottage in the middle of the Italian mountains. Unfortunately one of them is totally nuts and tries to kill them all off. It was actually a good story, and I quite liked the way it highlighted the fact that sometimes when you share something really intense with someone the price to pay for that sense of belonging and closeness can be quite ugly.

It is only when I started studying modern Italian literature at school (Ungaretti, Montale, etc) that I felt compelled to take my writing hobby more seriously. It occurred to me that poetry could do something very special: it could take pictures with words. Like good pictures it required some sort of structure, tone, harmony. The Italian language offers a number of poetical structures, which all fall under the discipline of rhetoric. I immediately liked the way you could use number of syllables, rhymes and other stuff to create that tone and musicality to accompany the 'picture'.   Rhetoric can then be seen as a medium rather than an old fashioned tradition. It is the instrument that created the music to accompany the picture.

And like good picture the best bits are the ones that are not immediately evident when you look at them. They just 'become' in the eye of the observer, telling them all those things that exist behind the surface.
It is the same of looking at a painting and feeling a certain way even though you don't know why.
I like writing poems where all the verses are visual snaps that tell stories that words cannot tell. Somebody who wrote a review on a poem of mine once said something nice, she said that my verses defy the boundaries of  tradition. I had not quite realised until I read that review that that was I had been trying to do without knowing.

Some great teachers have helped me along the way, like Gabriella. Beside being a great teacher she is also a successful writer. She always believed I could do well, and pushed me by introducing me to some great writers, taking me to Rome on a TV show and other ways. She was very disappointed when she found out I was to become a mathematician.

My greatest inspirations include Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, The Great Gatsby and Eugenio Montale's Ossi di Seppia. All of them share an anachronistic view of the world which I have found compelling. The opening line of Mrs. Dalloway to to date to me is one of the greatest strokes of genius.

Over the years I have written a few things. My prose has ranged from amateurish to ok to crap (of note my first English novel- The Categorical Imperative- none of my friends managed to read more than a few pages and to be honest I cannot really blame them).

However, my poetry has done well. I started writing poetry regularly in May 1997. I know it because my first 'new gen' poem was called 'May'. Since then, for a few years, I wrote a lot. It was my way to say things I did not want to talk about.
My mother - or shall I say my agent- kept finding stuff I had written and entering poetry contests for me.

The poem that got me most recognition was Amico Re (King Friend), The title comes from a note my school mate wrote on my year book in 1999. The poem is about the end of boarding school, and the final acts of all the dramas that took place on the Rilke path. I won quite a few first prizes in national contests with that poem - the funny thing being that none of the judges, and perhaps myself included - really know what those verses really mean.

Traffic Lights

If they asked me what I do not enjoy about living in Sydney, I kid you not one of the first things that would come to mind is 'crossing the road'. I am not sure how this all came to be, but it feels to me that traffic lights in Sydney have been designed to play with your mind and turn pedestrians into lunatic freaks. I have slowly become one of them. And here is why.

Firstly, it takes about the time that it took for the Ice Age to melt away for the sign to turn green in some roads. Crossing places like William Street, Oxford Street, or some specific parts of George Street in the CBD might well mean that your commute is increased by 10 minutes. The people that trail these paths often learn this very quickly, so it is not unusual to see people running like crazy in their suits or heels not to miss the chance to cross some of these roads. This is not an exaggeration:  at 8am Sydney is a city of people running to cross the road before the light goes red! If they don't is because either they are tourist or the road they are trying to cross is an 'easy one'.

If you add to this one of the most significant legacies of the massive Italian immigration waves to Australia in the 50s-70s i.e. bad driving and speeding at people crossing the road, you can see how  things can go mental. This lethal cocktail means that near misses are part of the daily commuting experience.

Secondly, the light does not turn green unless someone pushes the button. It is an unspoken contract that the pedestrian closest to the light should take care of this ever so important task. Failure to do so might result in another geological wait at the crossing. Most of the times people know this and they do press that damn thing - a few times for good measure. But if they don't, oh boy, you see rage washing over people's faces. Even the yummy mummy might go insane. When this happens, people make their way to the light and start pushing like there is not tomorrow, as loud as they can, possibly making eye contact with the impostor. Sometimes I fear they might push the lazy fellow commute under the bus to teach them a lesson (not that I ever felt that way...).

I could write a book on the typologies of people that do not push. Luckily studies have shown that only 1 in 250 people belong to this category. It is a serious sociological phenomenon. But let me say one thing: you know who you are non pushers! So do we. There is so much forgiving one can manage on Monday morning under the rain, especially is one is crap at umbrella management (i.e. that skill of buying, keeping, not losing and remembering to take an umbrella when it is raining outside).

Thirdly, in numerous cases there is a massive lag between the pedestrian light going red and the corresponding traffic light going green. I am not talking two seconds. I am talking thirty. The worst offender in my experience is the crossing William/Palmer. As soon as the pedestrian light goes green it starts flashing red. If you do not know any better you would not believe that you still have three minutes to cross. And if you do not know this, you have about 5 minutes to wait before you can cross again. Come on guys, get your alignment right!! Most Sydneysiders have learnt that crossing the road is an art where you need to take into account both pedestrian and traffic lights, and then  make a judgement call on whether any Italian descendant will try to run you over in between.

Finally, there are the anomalies. These are the pedestrian lights that do not follow any rule. My favourite is Pitt and King in the CBD, where the light goes red, green then within a second red and then green again. I have given up understanding why - and I am not complaining: that is an easy road to cross.

 

Pyar, mohobbat aur dosti ke bina jeena bhee kya jeena?

Pyar, mohobbat aur dosti ke bina jeena bhee kya jeena?

Love and friendship make the world survive,

like a door that opens when all doors are closed.

For me the love you share is just like that door,

it's made of many memories, mental pictures I've taken:

nights in at Cosway Mansions,

laughter at the Volunteer,

a surprise Christmas tree, nights on a dance floor

and days out in the snow, and Sunday night fear.

It's made of things that have not yet happened, the moment you'll share.

No love should not be celebrated,

because love and friendship make the world survive,

and whilst one thousand things around us might change or disappear

your love and all your dear friends will always be there.

[wedding peom for Gavin and Mishail, August 2012]

A road of roads

Since the 5th May this year it feels like I haven't stopped a second. Work has taken me to New York, Hong Kong, London and Singapore and then back to Sydney, in a whirlpool of meetings, face time, self selling, arguing with colleagues, seafood Laksa, experiencing one of toughest times in the 360 year history of my company,  spending time with friends including a random glass of champagne in a hotel room, not enough time spent with friends, missing Patata, surprises like those surprises that come out of a box,  and dozens of hours spent on planes watching movies, listening to Glee albums (somehow they seem to be the right backdrop to my flights), writing unfinished poems and promising myself that I will indeed become that exceptional human being I was always meant to be. In between I turned 32, we have had guests and family over and we faced summer, winter and eternal heat and I took my mother to see Mamma Mia. She stood up and danced. Before that I saw a sunrise that reminded me of South Africa, listened to a taxi driver telling me that women drive either too carefully or recklessly whilst speeding down a busy Asian street, and thought that I was not sure whether I liked being called 'sir' and then pondered for half an hour on why that made me uncomfortable.

It is strange to compare winter 2012 to last year's. Last year I was in full on hibernation, watching all series of Buffy in our rental flat and waiting for summer to come. I watched Buffy like there was no tomorrow, and the night outside was dark and the cars circled us all over again, leaving us on an island of traffic and light. We watched Buffy. I like the series with Gloria as the antagonist. She $hits all over the other baddies.

Blue Mountains

For the Queen's birthday public holiday this year we have opted for a mini break to the Blue Mountains.  These are a beautiful national park 1hr 30minutes or so drive from Sydney, to the west. They are called blue because the eucalypti forest secrets oils that in the heat evaporate and this mist reflected in the sunlight appears blue.

It is a great place for trekking or just relaxing, and being so close to the city it is a good option for getting away from it all without having to stress too much about it. There is also some sort of Old England charms to the towns in this area, which have got some great tea rooms and cafes that offer great scones and food.

A key destination in this area is the town of Katoomba, which can also be reached easily by train. Katoomba is famous because of the Three Sisters, a 900 meters or so beautiful rock formation towering over the Jamison valley. The Aboriginal story tells of three sisters that were turned into these rocks by their witch doctor father in the attempt to protect them from an evil attacker. Then the father lost the 'magic bone' that he used to cast the spell and so the poor little girls are still waiting to be turned back into humans. Quite a few holes in this story, if you ask me, but nonetheless it adds charm to the local folklore.

We took the 900 steps down to the valley (known as the Giant Steps) and then indulged in an easy stroll to the scenic railway - the steepest funicular in the world, which we took to go back up again.  That was enough nature for one day, so we had a delicious boozy meal in a lovely restaurant (Echos) with breathtaking views of the valley.

I love that fact that Sydney has got so many weekend destinations around it - which is special because Australia is so vast that many places are so far from each other so depending on where you live you might have to drive many hours to reach something cool nearby. Sydney's proximity to the Blue Mountains, as well as the wine region of the Hunter, or the rolling hills of Kangaroo valley, make this city somewhat more special.

A chance in life

As my friends know very well a key event that shaped my life forever was winning a scholarship for the United World College of the Adriatic in 1997. I won one of the four scholarships that the Sardinian government had reserved for talented youngsters in the region.
Marta, Emauela, Elisa and myself were the lucky ones that year who made it after a few rounds of interviews.

I seem to remember that thousands and thousands of Italian students took part in the overall selection process, for about 20 actual places to study the International Baccalaureate in this boarding school. The number is probably exaggerated- for Italians often like to make things look more dramatic. What is not exaggerated is that a shed load of us fought to our very best to get a chance to escape our normality and our destiny and grab this opportunity. Attending this school meant opening the door to a world of opportunities that would never manifest themselves ever again.

The selection process was full on, and ranged from just academic tests all the way to group leadership challenges, role plays and interviews with psychologists and governmental representatives. Of those long days I remember a lunch at Valburger (a dodgy fast food place in Cagliari) with other candidates that seemed so much more self confident that I had ever been, meeting someone who would become one of my best friends, having five minutes to prepare for a role play were I was to argue that embargo was a justifiable way to drive policy when I did not know what embargo was, having to connect nine dots with three consecutive lines, being asked about Pythagoras' tetraktis, Marta in a leopard skin shirt,  meeting Gabriella (the most inspiring teacher I have ever had and that I wish would have 'forced' me to follow my real passion in life), being around a lot of people who seemed to be bright and determined, going to church and asking God to help me (something that I do not do often), and a feeling of massive fear and emptiness at the end of the process.

The final round was held at the school itself, near Triest. My dad and I took off on a trip filled of hope. I perfectly remember leaving home, my stomach filled with butterflies and nerves. My family could not quite  afford the air fare, so we drove to the North of Sardinia, took a 12 hours ferry to Genoa, and then drove all the way to Venice and Triest. Dad - bless his soul, told me that was not the last time I was gonna make him drive those roads.

He was right, as he often was.

If I had not made it, I would have not gone to university in London, I would have not traveled the world, I would not met the most important people of my life who have shared my journey with me , I would not be living in Sydney in the job I do and I would not be dreaming in English right now.

The moment that changed my life forever came on a June morning in country Sardinia. I had just spent two weeks waiting for a letter - waiting for the postman to turn up every day on his scooter and put me out of my misery.  The skies were so blue and the sun so hot. It felt like standing on the edge of a precipice without being able to move.  Every day without news was a day that pushed men further and further into fulfilling what my life was meant to be about rather than what I could dream of doing and being.

A telegram was delivered that day and my brother said it was for him. That moment, I understood that I had been rejected.My heart sunk. Ten second later I was crying. My brother had opened the telegram and realized that it was actually for me and that I had been accepted.  The telegram was written in English and said that they were pleased to inform me that I was one of the 20.

I will never forget that moment. How I felt, how life felt like it was opening up like a miracle had just happened. There a moments like those in everyone's life. It's the moment an Australian boy or girl jumps on a plane to kick off their oversea experience in Europe, it is the moment we discover a passion that will dominate our lives, it is the moment when what you did, said and thought resulted in changes that you could have never have imagined and that modified everything forever. Those are our key cross roads, and each of us has not got more than two or three in our lives. Those are the moments when real change happens and make all other changes possible.

My friends take the piss out of me because I talk about those days a lot. My friend Emma asked me whether I had gone there for 10 years, rather than  2, cause I seem to have an unfeasible amount of stories to tell about that place. However, the reason why I do is that I cannot help but feeling fortunate and thankful for that miracle to have happened. In many ways that was the beginning of my life.

Sydney after Hong Kong

Dawns over the Australian desert are made of fire, like a hellish landscape of incredible and distant beauty. Below, dark clouds like sponges soak up the last drops of  night. From outside,  the plane must look like an angel made of iron making its silent way somewhere important.
As I return to Australia after two weeks away it hits me again how remote and in many ways untouched this place is. It hits me how attached I am getting to it.

The last week in Hong Kong has been fabulous. Asia never fails to charm with its alien beauty, encompassing heat and engaging buzz. Hong Kong is the strange child of China, a world made of skyscrapers stolen from a jungle that still tries to prevail and that licks at the city with its disorderly green tongues. Eagles fly outside the window of my office on the 58th floor.  I wonder if life will take us here.  

The world is changing.

New York after Sydney

I am writing this entry from JFK on my way to Hong Kong after having spent a few days in New York for work. This was perhaps my fifth time in the Big Apple and certainly it has been very different from all my other visits.

All the other times were for pleasure, from London, when I was all about the Big Smoke and the big cities.

This time was a business trip with important meetings and the promise of fun in between.

Firstly, the trip from Sydney is much more epic than the pond cross from London. Door to door it takes about 25 hours, and the time difference is 14 hours. It's is a journey through space and time. Travelling with Qantas and American Airlines helped me feeling absolutely destroyed, defeated and awful by the time I touched down.

I spent the first three days managing a ghastly jetlag that I cannot even begin to describe. It was like being submerged in cold water and trying to make sense of the was going on above the surface. Or like being very hangover on repeat. 

Given that I had a few monumental meetings on the way just meant that the whole first half of the trip had its fair share of fear (TM) and anxiety. The low point was going to bed at 10pm one night, and then waking up two hours later and not being able to fall asleep again. Torture.
 
The other thing that I realised is that how used I have become to the sea breeze and the feeling of space that one gets in Sydney - New York suddenly felt dirty, fat, unhealthy and overwhelming. 

Having to work and try to impress all the big bosses when the only thing I wanted was sleeping and eating comfort food didn't help.

So, if you had asked me on Tuesday I would have told you that my trip was being painful. You would have probably thought also that I am a massive wingy wingey bang bang. I was.

However, as the jetlag subsided the 'switch' happened, in other words that magical spell that means that nobody can leave New York without having fallen in love with it. A lovely dinner at Buddhakan with Jx2Sx2, a fun night in Brooklyn, catching up with DJ, a run in the soft afternoon light in Central Park, an afternoon walk in Chelsea meant that I am leaving with wonderful memories of my time here. Again.

New York is one of those places with a massive personality and a lot of secrets to tell. I am a total outsider there, but the city makes you feel like you want to get to know it better.

In the past I always had that 'destiny feeling' that I would one day live there. It did not happen this time. I guess times move on and life stages take you in different place. I feel excited about being 'East' at the moment and quite excited about going back to that part of the world.

Autumnal Sun

Perhaps because La Ninha has made last summer wetter and cloudier than expected, the recent autumnal sun and crisp blue skies has felt like bliss. Walking down Liverpool Street in the soft morning light makes you feel like the world is slowing down, providing that moment of quiet and respite before another day at work. Sydney in Autumn is beautiful.

There is a feeling that the city is quieting down towards the hibernations of winter. People prefer dinners out with friends over bars after the big summer parties, and it all just feel cosier.
The gyms don't feel as frantic with people buffing up before a trip to North Bondi.
The line in front of Messina (the amazing gelato place on Victoria Road) persists somehow, but it is far from the crazy feeding frenzy of hot summer nights.

Sydney is definitely a place of seasons.

Pebbles

Sometimes it feels like we spend a great deal of our lives trying to balance all the ingredients & things that together will make us happy. Like pebbles on the shore. These do vary somewhat from person to person, but they are likely to include elements like: love, friendships & family, health&body, finances&work, self worth&development. It is an exhausting process and more often than not we find that at one particular point in time we feel like we have mastered some but not all of these elements.

The problem is that these things often work against each other. For instance if we are out there having a great time travelling the world with our mates, we might find that we feel out of shape and broke. Or, if work is going great, we might find that we are not putting a lot of effort in our relationships or we do not have time to cultivate our passions.

This is a bit of a pickle, and might just lead us to keep doing this 'balancing act' throughout our lives, as though there was some sort of mathematical formula of happiness that we are trying to uncover and exploit for the rest of our lives.

In turn this might make us feel that ' we are not quite there yet'.

To make things more complex, the standards that we use to assess success for each of the 'pebbles that make up happiness' changes over time. For instance, what we regard as successful at work, or the value we place or money becomes more demanding as we grow older. If when we started working out the El Dorado was being able to run 5km, by the time we run 5km we feel that we need to run a marathon.

Growing, developing and becoming better people is obviously something positive - however it does make it very hard to ever feel we have fully arrived.

Despite all this there are moments in life where we do feel truly happy and content with what's going on. It might be a great night out with our best friends, or the day of our wedding, or the day we finally achieved that long wanted promotion, etc etc. If we think about it, these are not moments where 'we have it all', where we have achieved that elusive balance of pebbles. More likely, these moments of happiness are just instants where we simply do not wish anything more than we already have.

Expectations play a massive role in the way we perceive happiness. And since we tend to be quite bad at predicting what will make us happy then it is key that we proactively manage our expectations in such a way that we do not set up ourselves objectives that might end up failing to bring us that happiness we had expected them to bring us. For instance, at work we might set up ourselves an objective to become a Managing Director because we believe that we will feel happy from a career perspective once we get there. However, after sweating over it for years and finally getting there we might discover that being an MD did not do anything to make us happier and that we should have focussed more on other things in our lives. We should never second guess happiness.

That is why it is worth spending time understanding what is the baseline of our own happiness, the rough ingredients that bring us happiness. I think that this baseline is less changeable over time, and in many ways it is easier to determine that the end point where we guess we should get to. For instance, whilst the definition of a top holiday will become more demanding over the years, the fact that we love spending time with our best mates has not really changed since we were broke students.

The other thing that I think is important is what I call 'the ten years time test' i.e. asking ourselves how we will feel about something in ten years time. It is fair to say that things like the missed promotion will not seem so important after all, whilst the fact that we did not cultivate our passion for painting is more likely to stick around as a regret. The ten years time test is a great way to determine the baseline of our own happiness.

In practical terms our baseline will include things like determining what is the minimum amount of money that we require to do the things we love, and then accepting that anything above that will please us, but it will not make us happier people (this might be liberating and make us realise that we can change job/career and still be happy).

Happiness then is not about constantly trying to balance a pile of pebbles, it is more like stripping down the expectations that we have imposed on ourselves and live life in such a way that our older self will look back with no regrets.

26

As I get out of my hotel in Singapore and the hot air engulfs me in its tropical embrace, it all feels like everything is different and familiar at the same time. My 5 minutes taxi commute to work could not be farther away from the Jubilee line on a winter morning. Alas, the mental pictures I have taken of both experiences seem to speak to each other, they feel part of the same story. I look out of the window towards the harbour and I marvel once more at the simple fact that I am here. Asia's dawn is so big and enchanting. Some significant truth seem to linger just below the surface, as though somebody has whispered a secret to me, but the colours distract me and I'll never understand. We turn left, then right, quite gently. People wait for a taxi or they are walking. I leave them all behind whilst I press 26.

Euler's Identity

 

The Euler's identity is regarded as one of the most beautiful mathematical formulae and I must say I have always quite liked it myself.

The most important mathematical symbols play their part, from the transcendental numbers e and Pi,  the imaginary number i, the revolutionary 0 from ancient India and the unity 1.
The remarkable thing about this equation is how numbers and symbols that were created in completely different geographies, cultures and centuries come together in this ultimate truism.


I have often thought that life sometimes feels like that :when things come together we suddenly realize how they are linked in the big picture. We might call it 'epiphany', or 'moment of clarity' but ultimately we refer to a sudden understanding of the big picture. No matter how the different experiences, choices we make etc might pull us in different directions - or make it hard for us to understand what's going on - at the end our Euler's identity reveals itself, made of all the bits and bobs that we have picked along the way.

Tasmania

One of my highlights from this summer was without doubt our holiday in Tasmania. When I grew up in Sardinia for me Tasmania was a mystical far away land which existed only in a cartoon I used to watch (yes, THAT one). I would have never imagined that one day I would have ended up going there.

And what a great place it is! From Sydney it takes about 1.5hrs flight to reach Hobart - the main city in the island. A few airlines make the trip several times a day so it is not drama at all to get there. As you land into Hobart ou immediately realise how beautiful the place is and how nature still plays a dominant role in the landscape of this place. A few people compare it to the South island of New Zealand, though i personally thought Tasmania had its own character, landscape and personality. Hobart is beyond charming, with its dramatic natural harbour setting, historical buildings from the convict era, and a passion for amazing food and wine. Manuka honey from Tasmania in unbelievable!

The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is such a surprise and definitely one of the best and most interesting museums I have ever visited (you can get there by boat and the whole place is original and full of amazing pieces).

Tasmania is the place where the Brits sent out the worst of their convicts from the XVIII century and there are a plethora of places you can find out more about that history, like in the daunting Port Arthur (2hrs drive from Hobart). It is really worth coming here and spend a few hours exploring this colony and its buildings.

If you like trekking and nature there is a lot to do (I am told the West Coast is wild and beautiful, though we didn't make it there), but if you like me are slightly lazy - a couple of hours trek to Wine Glass bay is an amazing thing to do.

If you add to this amazing wine tasting in the Tamar valley, Tasmania is a real winner and definitely one of the highlights so far of my life Down Under - definitely going back!

For reviews of places where to eat/stay in Tasmania have a look at my Trip Advisor reviews http://www.tripadvisor.com/members-reviews/youngprofessionalUK

Australia Day

The other day (26th January) the nation celebrated Australia Day. This is a pretty big deal over here - and the typical thing to do is to have a BBQ party and spend the day drinking in the sun. The radio plays the list of the top 100 songs of the year, which a lot of people listen to whilst partying. There are few other traditions like the ANZAC biscuits, but I reckon the real star of the day are beer and meat.  This year we were guests at our friend Maria's near Clovelly. There were about twenty people, a lot of Irish, and me as the token Italian. They put up a great party - and even the weather (that has been a bit pants lately) was kind enough to allow us to fully enjoy a few steaks in Maria's back garden (which by the way was full of very scarily looking and voluminous spiders).
Maria and her housemates fed me one too many vodka rich cocktails and shots, so the whole thing started off as a civilised affair ( with conversation of the type :'what a wonderful day') and ended up in a bit of a blur.
Great day!

Village Life - Darlinghurst

I have used the sentence ' there is a real village feel to it' a number of times, but since we moved to Darlinghurst I finally understand what it really means.
There is a feeling of familiarity in this area. Everything feels close, convenient, the vibe is relaxed and slow paced as you would expect from a manicured town rather than a capital city. Our local pub (The Green Park - really good place) is just opposite to where we live, the gym is five minutes walk, there are numerous cafes and great restaurants (including our favourites) literally down the road, we can walk to work, you can hear the bells from the nearby church ring on a Sunday morning, you can jump on a bus to Bondi beach and be there in 20 minutes. All in all this place is ace and I recommend it to people that are new to Sydney or on holiday (and want to have the nightlife at their doorsteps - staying at the beaches can be slightly remote).

I feel very happy that we own a flat here.

For my review of restaurants in Sydney go to : http://www.tripadvisor.com/members-reviews/youngprofessionalUK

Let's Dance Little Stranger

Sometimes a specific moment of our life gets linked (with inexplicable strength) to a song, sound or smell. It is as though those things get charged with some sense that our conscious selves cannot really grasp. They seem to explain things better than just words, or even our thoughts.
These are songs that reappear in our lives and stop us in our tracks -they take us back to the past and at the same time redefine the present.

One of these songs for me is Dance With Me by the French act Nouvelle Vague.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekQZPozjCX8

The other night Dave and I went to see Nouvelle Vague play at the Sydney Festival (At the barracks). Rachel and her friends were there too. I think that this band is brilliant and whilst at most gigs I can lose my concentration span after a few songs, Nouvelle Vague seem to carry the whole crowd all the way through. The self confident sexy French attitude of the two lead singers has definitely something to do with it.
When this song came up I felt propelled back to London, to the Flat of Dreams (this is how we called the place in Marylebone where we used to live). This is the song that lent itself as a background to the forming of a friendship that is so dear to me.  It takes me back on a train towards a ballroom venue in South London. It also reminds me of fun times when I rediscovered and reinvented my whole life back in 2007.

The other night I remembered seeing Nouvelle Vague in Camden Town (at the Round House) a few years back. Just like this time back then I felt in a good place. I thought about how life has moved on since then and how lucky I feel for that past and this present. Not just for myself, but for the people in my life that that song connects me to.

January in Sydney

It is January, and part of my body&soul would like to shut down and go into winter mode, just like it kind of did during my years in London. There is something quite beautiful in hibernation.  Usually this would be the time to make green soup and say no to nights out.

However, the reverse seasons means that Sydney is kicking off in January and it being summer we have so many fun things planned over the next few months, including trips to Melbourne for the Open, a holiday in Tasmania, people visiting from England, the Sydney festival, Mardi Gras, hopefully a few lazy Sunday mornings at Bondi Beach etc etc . Tonight we have been to the Sydney Opera House to see a pseudo ballet performance called Anatomy of An Afternoon - basically one hour of this hot dancer showing off an amazing body. Quite bizarre but strangely satisfying.

The sunshine at this time of the year still feels like a surprise to me. I ,love walking to work with that brightness on my face, Days are long and sunset are generously dramatic. In general the city is buzzing - you can tell that people go out more and that are pretty much focused in making the most out of it.

A road trip in Australia (Sydney-Brisbane)

Australia is an amazing country for so many reasons. Its sheer size means that Australia spans across completely different climates and time zones, from the red desert in Western Australia (that by itself is as big as Europe but inhabited by less than 5 million people), to the lush tropical forests and the Great Barrier Reef in Queenslands.

Over Christmas David, Emily and I went on a road trip from Sydney (in New South Wales) to Brisbane (in Queensland). The 1100km journey only covers a small portion of the Australian East Coastline, and it is definitely worth the effort.  The Pacific Highway runs nearby the coast all the way, and it takes approximately 14 hours of driving to complete the whole journey.

As you leave the big city behind and you drive up through New South Wales you cover great distances of lush priories, fragrant eucalypti forests, swollen rivers (well, unless it is a year of drought) and small towns with a distinctive country feel to them. These are small places where the pace of life is slower and the economy is still very much linked to the land.  Along the way there are also a number of great beaches, national parks and questionable attractions such as the 'Big Banana' and the 'Macadamia Castle'.

Great stop overs in this region are Port Macquarie (we stayed at Flynn's beach for two nights - which was lovely) and Coffs Harbour.

As you head north towards subtropical Queenslands and the Gold Coast palm trees start creeping up, the air gets much more humid and suddenly you feel like you are in another country. Places like Byron Bay and the Gold Coast are known destinations - the former is famous for its beaches, music festivals, a bit of a hippy past and more sophisticated crowds, the latter is popular among surfers, backpackers and local holidaymakers (who tend to rent out apartments near the beach over the festive periods).

Brisbane is a big city, which is quite spread out and in some way reminds me of LA (you need a car!). More about Brisbane in future blogs. We spent the holidays at David mother's place, eating far too much and playing UpWords.

I love road trips, and this one was a very good one, and so much better than dealing with airport terminals on Christmas evening!

Good Bye Roundabout of Dreams

Next week will mark one year since the day we moved into what has become known as the Roundabout of Dreams: the rental flat in Rushcutters Bay that affords amazing views of Sydney Harbour (see picture above, taken from our balcony). The name Roundabout comes from the fact that the building is actually located in the middle of a traffic island opposite Rushcutters Bay Park. I know - doesn't sound that glamorous, but this was in fact a very good flat and a perfect first flat for our adventure in Sydney. Waking up to breathtaking views of the ocean in the different seasons has definitely brought a lot of smiles to my face over the months.
I definitely feel like I have reconnected to the sea like when I was growing up in Sardinia.

We have managed to create quite a few fond memories in this place, including whole Sunday afternoons spent cooking and sipping wine, being able to walk to work for the first time since I lived in Nottingham (2004), catching the sun in the park, sipping coffee in Potts Point, having guests from oversea, dinners and hanging out with friends, and walking down to Red Leaf Pool during sunny mornings.

It is nice to know that this building - no matter how tragically 80s or misplaced it might look- will always be a pleasant reminder of the beginning of our new life in Oz and of a successful first year Down Under. I look forward to creating new, more permanent memories in our new flat that we have just bought in the Darlinghurst.

The Debloater

*

So, I have been passionate about nutrition since I was a kid and plan one day to kick off some nutrition based business project. I just find very interesting the way nutrition plays such a big role in the way we feel about ourselves and how our bodies respond so quickly and precisely to what we feed them.

I spent years reading on the subject, experimenting with different things and although  I haven't got a real qualification in the field, I have a quite a lot of knowledge that I have used to put together a new way to get fitter and slimmer without going on a diet. Diets don't work, what works is finding what is right for us individually and finding a balanced place where we feel happy and healthy.

With this in mind I developed a very different nutrition approach that I am testing at the moment on friends and family with great results.

The 7 days plan below is not part of my longer term method (which is much more tailor made and less 'one size fits all'), but it should leave you feeling much better at the end of it. It is ideal if you want to pick up your health routine again, or simply want to feel less bloated without going on a fad diet that doesn't work.

It lasts only 7 days, and that's all you need to commit to.


If you decide to try it out comment on this page how it went for you.

This debloater doesn't require any exercise - obviously if you feel like exercising go ahead and do it, but this particular debloater doesn't require it over the 7 days it spans across. The only thing that is required is that this plan should not be started on a Monday. Pick up whatever other day of the week works for you, but absolutely not Monday.

There are a few reasons for this. The most important are that (a) Monday is a depressing day in the best of cases and starting a nutritional plan on top of it is not a good idea (b) it takes about three days for the body to start showing signs of positive reaction to a health plan. If you start this plan on a Wednesday, say, by the time Monday (the most depressing day remember?) comes you will feel already much better and you will start the week much more motivated (and hence you are more likely to keep going).

So, if you like the sound of it just go ahead and try it out. Please do comment on this page with your experience - whether this is positive or not.
To make things even easier you can interchange all the meals that have the same colour.

If, at the end of this trial,  you are interested in taking part in my longer term nutritional method get in touch - I am doing it for free for now.


Good Luck! 

***

Day 1:

The only thing you need to do on day one is to buy yourself a 1.5L bottle of water and sip away. Drink at least 3L of water each day of the debloater. As for food, I leave you to eat what you want on day 1. You can also use day 1 to buy the ingredients for the other days.

***

Day 2:


Don't forget your water!


Breakfast: scrambled egg and spinach on wholemeal toast. Tea or coffee (no sugar).

method: Scramble one egg with 1/4 of a mug of cold water (from the fridge), salt & pepper. Cook in the microwave in 30 seconds intervals, stirring at the end of each interval until cooked. Spread on top of one piece of wholemeal toast with a big handful of fresh spinach.

Mid Morning: one apple or peach, a skinny coffee (e.g. small skinny latte) with no sugar.

Lunch: make a salad with iceberg salad or spinach (as much as you like), 1 tin of tuna (in water), cucumber (as much as you like), 1 carrot. Condition in a vinaigrette made of a big dash of balsamic vinegar and  1 tea spoon of mustard.

Mid Afternoon: a handful of almonds.

On the Way Home: celery sticks.

Dinner:  fish fillet on mash. Herbal tea throughout the evening,

method: 

The mash - boil 5 carrots, half red onion and 3 cloves of garlic for 30 minutes or until soft. Mash with 2 spoons of semi skimmed milk, salt, pepper and some of the spices you like.

The fish - place a medium sized fillet of white fish in the middle of a frying pan. Season with salt, pepper and herbs. Put enough water in the frying pan to just cover the fish. Add half vegetable stock cube. Bring to the boil for about 8 minutes or until the fish is cooked an tender. Place the fish on a plate on top of the mash, sprinkle with a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil.

***

Day 3:

Don't forget your water!

Breakfast: 50 grams of smoked salmon and 1 poached or soft boiled egg on a bed of spinach. Tea or Coffee (no sugar)

Mid Morning: one pot of low fat probiotic yogurt (make sure that calories don't exceed the 100 mark), a skinny coffee with no sugar.

Lunch:  spicy broccoli chicken.

method: microwave the florettes of a big broccoli head for 3.5 minutes. Cover a mid sized chicken breast in herbs, salt and pepper and then roast in the grill or microwave till cooked. Cut the chicken into strips, add it to the broccoli and toss the whole thing in mustard, lemon juice and a few drops of tobasco. 

Mid Afternoon: an apple or a peach, a skinny coffee or tea with no sugar.

On the Way Home: 3 carrots.

Dinner:  minestrone, herbal tea throughout the evening.

method: slice half a red onion, three cloves of garlic and 1 chilly pepper. Gently fry these in 2 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil until the onions start caramelizing (approx 5 minutes). Add 250 grams of chopped frozen mixed vegetables, 1 vegetable stock cube (or equivalent liquid version), fresh basil (as much as you like), 1 teaspoon of ketchup,  and stir continuously for 5 minutes. Cover the whole thing with boiling water and add two grossly chopped tomatoes. Bring it to the boil and simmer for at least 30 minutes, stirring often and adding salt and basil to taste.  The minestrone is ready when the tomatoes has completely dissolved and it forms a think crust on top of the soup. The minestrone is also very good cold/re-heated, so feel free to make it in advance.

***

Day 4:

Don't forget your water!

Breakfast: wheat free cereals or porridge (half a mug worth), with 5 chopped strawberries, a handful of blueberries, a chopped peach, a spoon of low fat yogurt, a teaspoon of honey and skimmed milk. Tea or coffee (no sugar)

If you cannot find the fruit easily, just use two apples instead.

Mid Morning: a handful of almonds

Lunch: make a salad with iceberg salad or spinach (as much as you like), 1 soft boiled egg, cucumber (as much as you like), 1 carrot. Condition in a vinaigrette made of a big dash of balsamic vinegar and  1 tea spoon of mustard.

Mid Afternoon: 2 rice cakes. Skinny coffee or tea with no sugar.

On the Way Home: 3 carrots or a slice of watermelon.

Dinner:   Tofu curry. Herbal tea throughout the evening.

method: slice one red onion, five cloves of garlic, 1 carrot, and 1 chilly pepper. Gently fry these in 2 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil until the onions start caramelizing (approx 5 minutes). Add 350 grams of chopped tofu (if you don't like tofu use a mid sized chicken breast) and stir at medium heat continuously with a big teaspoon of curry powder for 5 minutes. Add a tin of canned tomatoes (diced), another big teaspoon of curry powder, a mug of boiling water, a pinch of salt and a handful of coriander. Mix it all up, bring it back to boil and let is simmer for 30 minutes, stirring regularly. When it's about three minutes from being done add a big spoon of plain low fat Greek yogurt and stir it in.

Whilst the curry is cooking, put 1/3 of a mug of brown rice in a pot. Add one mug of cold water and a pinch of salt. Put it on the stove and leave it until all water has evaporated. As brown rice takes ages to cook, you might have to add a bit more of water towards the end (just taste it and judge for yourselves). Serve the curry on a bed of brown rice.

slice half a red onion, three cloves of garlic and 1 chilly pepper. Gently fry these in 2 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil until the onions start caramelizing (approx 5 minutes).

***

Day 5:

Don't forget your water!

Breakfast: scrambled egg and spinach on wholemeal toast. Tea or coffee (no sugar).

method: Scramble one egg with 1/4 of a mug of cold water (from the fridge), salt & pepper. Cook in the microwave in 30 seconds intervals, stirring at the end of each interval until cooked. Spread on top of one piece of wholemeal toast and a big handful of fresh spinach.

Mid Morning: skinny coffee or tea, one rice cake with a teaspoon of low fat cottage cheese.

Lunch: make a salad with iceberg salad or spinach (as much as you like), 1 tin of tuna (in water), cucumber (as much as you like), 1 carrot. Condition in a vinaigrette made of a big dash of balsamic vinegar and  1 tea spoon of mustard.

Mid Afternoon: Skinny coffee or tea with no sugar, 1 apple.

On the Way Home: celery sticks or a slice of watermelon .

Dinner:   Green soup. Herbal tea throughout the evening.

method: Boil 1 red onion, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 chilly pepper, the florettes of a broccoli head, a handful of frozen peas, a large celery stick, a quarter of a coliflower head in water with 2 vegetable stock cubes for 30 minutes. Drain the broth (keeping it) and liquidize the vegetables with a mug of the broth. Add salt and spices to taste. Drink both the broth and eat the soup.

***

Day 6:

Don't forget your water!

Breakfast: .2 hard boiled eggs and a slice of watermelon. Skinny coffee or tea with no sugar.

Mid Morning: skinny coffee or tea, 3 carrots.

Lunch: 6 pieces of salmon and avocado sushi (or equivalent low fat variety). If sushi is not for you then prepare yourself a salad with iceberg salad or spinach (as much as you like), 1 tin of tuna (in water), cucumber (as much as you like), 1 carrot. Condition in a vinaigrette made of a big dash of balsamic vinegar and  1 tea spoon of mustard.

Mid Afternoon: Skinny coffee or tea with no sugar, 1 apple.

On the Way Home: celery sticks.

Dinner:    Steak sandwich. Herbal tea throughout the evening.

method: Cut a capsicum into a half, pierce it in several places and grill on the grill until well cooked. No need to add any oil. At the same time put on the grill a tomato cut into half and sprinkled with balsamic vinegar. Cook until the tomato is well cooked and squashy. Season and grill one steak (150 grams) to taste (I like it medium/rare). Take two pieces of wholemeal toasts and grill them on the same grill that you used for the vegetables so that it will soak all the juices. When the toast is done, squash the tomato on top of it, then layer the capsicum, the steak, some pickles and mustard. Add pepper and salt to taste.

***

Day 7:

Don't forget your water!

Breakfast: wheat free cereals or porridge (half a mug worth), with 5 chopped strawberries, a handful of blueberries, a chopped peach, a spoon of low fat yogurt, a teaspoon of honey and skimmed milk. Tea or coffee (no sugar)
If you cannot find the fruit easily, just use two apples instead.

Mid Morning: a handful of almonds

Lunch: make a salad with iceberg salad or spinach (as much as you like), 1 soft boiled egg, cucumber (as much as you like), 1 carrot. Condition in a vinaigrette made of a big dash of balsamic vinegar and  1 tea spoon of mustard.

Mid Afternoon: 2 rice cakes. Skinny coffee or tea with no sugar.

On the Way Home: 3 carrots or a slice of watermelon.

Dinner:   A grilled chicken breast with green salad on the side (dressed with 1 teaspoon of olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste). Herbal tea throughout the evening.