New Year + smoothie = New Me

8th January 2016 This has been my most successful blog post so far. Thanks
2016 is now upon us, so I think it's about to tell you thatI feel like I have always celebrated the new year with no real concept of how I would make that year better in every way. 

Year upon Year until 2015 has ended in the same slightly destructive way. I have always seen in the new with a beer or a whisky in my hand. The start of the 16th year of this millennium was different, in nearly every quantifiable way.

For the first time in my life, I was on my own when the tones of Big Ben (in London) struck.

This can be interpreted in one of a couple of ways. The first interpretation will be the one that most of my closest friends will subscribe to. That I am sad and lonely and have little to no social skills and that I have become SO middle-aged and grumpy that I revel in my solitude and that nobody really wants to be anywhere near me, because I radiate a need to avoid most forms of human interaction. Or then, there is the second interpretation where I actually chose this night to be one of quiet 
contemplation, making my truly desired and achievable resolutions that will ACTUALLY lead to an
improvement and hopefully a prolonging of my existence on this fantastic planet. Either that, or I just want to not start sweating when I climb stairs.........or tie my shoelaces........or brush my hair........ (That, and the fact that there was some truly amazing tv on New Year's Eve)

I think I should let you guess which of those interpretations was the correct one.

There've been many, many times when my annual celebrations broke nearly every rule of civilised
behavior. 

During My teens and twenties, I had quite a large circle of friends, and I did actually consider these people Real friends, but like everyone, I managed to weedle that large group of pals Down to a couple of core groups of three or four really close buddies. 

One group included all of my clubbing buddies who I hung around with in and around the
Birmingham nightclub scene. We went from club to club, some of us DJing, and generally having a
good time. There are a few stories that I could tell you about that period in my life, and I'm sure I will mention them, in time. Unless my lawyer advises me not to.

I consider the primary core of really good friends to be the guys who I spent the majority of my time with. I have mentioned them before. 

Paul, John, Joe, Dave (my elder brother) Chris and Nigel. 

These were my guys, who I considered to be my brothers from other mothers......except Dave, who is ACTUALLY my brother. We all, at one point went to school with each other. Except Dave, who is my brother. (Did I mention that Dave is my brother?)

Paul's  parents owned a fantastic Hotel in the town, and this hotel became the focal point of our collective socialising. Whenever we went out, the night would always either begin or end at the hotel's generously stocked  bar. 

So you can imagine that every New Year's Eve we would all turn up at the hotel, dressed up to the nines and holding court for the whole night up until the chimes of midnight. 

It was not until after all the invited guests had said their good nights that the "party" could really start. really really start.

For some reason, I cannot remember the specifics. (And I think that pshycologically speaking, thats probably a good thing)

I am quite comfortable telling you that the sands of time have clouded the details.

I am sure that you wondering if I going to approach something resembling a point, any time soon, instead of wallowing in self-indulgent memories. 

That point will make an appearance very soon, but as I trudge towards it through the molasses-like trenches of my musings.

I am assuming that you have read my previous blog posts, so you are well aware of my chequered social life and unhealthy life style. The purpose of this blog in to ultimately explain why I decided in November of last year, that it was high time to put aside my bad eating and drinking habits, just a little bit, and adopt a more healthy exsistance through heavily cutting back on the negative ingredients (though I would like to emphasise, not COMPLETELY cutting them) out of my life.

A huge part of this is making smoothies out of raw, organic (wherever possible) fruit and vegetables, spices, herbs and fabulous liquids like coconut water, coconut milk, green tea, and/or natural fat free yoghurt.

It is really important for us all to try and avoid highly processed foods and meats (so avoiding the chance of ingesting nasty, evil GMOs) 

I could probably do more. In fact I know I probably SHOULD do more, but my knowledge of the subject  is not yet sufficiently advanced. Plus I still want to be able to have a little fun sometimes and I must admit thatI find it really difficult to completely cut some things out of my life.

So this is my pledge for this year. And this is the point of this entire endeavour

I promise that, this year,  I will still drink alcohol but just not so much and not so often

I promise that, this year, I will still occasionally sneak the odd one or two hamburgers or kebabs.

I promise that, this year, I will still occasionally scoff a few choccies from time to time.

I promise that I will replace at least 2 Meals per day with a freshly made smoothie.

I promise that I will carry on writing these blogs for as long as I still feel I have information to share with you, whilst, at the same time not boring you.

I promise that I will not stop being a slightly grumpy middle aged man and that I will try to connect with like minded people through this blog.

Now those are some POWERFUL RESOLUTIONS from this mid-life monster.

Please comment on this blog and tell me your own resolutions.

HAPPY NEW YEAR YOU LOVELY MID-LIFE MONSTERS

TTFN

IJ x