The Easter Weekend.

The Easter weekend is almost at an end. The weather has yet again been dazzlingly beautiful for everyone to enjoy. This is the main downside to Mr Gerson's plan. Yes Amanda and I can enjoy our wonderful garden, and the sprouting shoots that are beginning to establish themselves in fairly neat rows, some a little closer to one another than they should be, but Amanda likes them to be cosy as they grown, but we can't just jump in the car and bugger off somewhere, like we used to. This is an inconvenience for us both. We both like to head off at the drop of a hat, this is the main reason
 we have remained self employed.

Unfortunately due to the restraints of the juicing regime, we have to be in or around the silver beast nigh on every hour of the day, well12 of 24 anyway. Juices on the hour every hour, once Amanda hits the therapy full on. Currently she is doing between 7 and 8 juices, but let me tell you this is still very time consuming. For example, I rose this morning at 5am, headed over to Farnborough Hall lake for a couple of hours fishing, I dropped by Tesco on the way home, about 8am. To my despair it was closed yesterday, Easter Sunday, and had not reopened as yet. I headed home for my second bout of breakfast, aiming to return just after opening at 9am. Amanda was up, and had already scoffed her pre soaked oats and prunes, washed down with a freshly pressed carrot and apple juice.

For me, a bowl of organic muesli, (yes, organic) a quick shower and I was off to the supermarket. I rattled up and down the fruit and veg aisles, manically sweeping all the organic action I could get my hands on into the trolley, the main reason being I'd left the tactically laid out shopping list at home... Bugger! There are always a few items that cannot be grabbed from one supermarket, so I shot home, dumped off fifty four quids worth of fresh produce and booted it up to Sainsbury's, this time with the amended shopping list in my pocket. A quick zip around the store saw me notch up another twenty five quids worth of goods. Good golly Miss Molly!!!

I returned home at 10.30am-ish, then started to unpack all the stuff. It amazes me, all this organic produce wrapped in non recyclable plastic, it simply beggars belief. Whilst de-bagging, and compartmentalising the fruit and veg, I set the juicer into action for Amanda, a green juice consisting of one quarter green pepper, 4 leaves of cos lettuce, 4 leaves of little gem (any lettuce bar iceberg will do, no 'lettuce from the council' regarding rates, they won't do), a small part of one leaf of red cabbage, a small handful of watercress and finally an apple to provide a modicum of sweetness.

Ahead of juicing all the ingredients must be washed in water that has been filtered. After a green juice, the Angel must be cleansed of her various veg body parts. Suddenly a simple glass of juice, is not so simple. A little about the water filtration system, it's a five stage reverse osmosis system. It fits under your sink, where most people like to keep cleaning products, cloths and sponges etc.... along with the odd bit of stuff, that gets thrown in there and forgotten about, such as shoe polish and the like... oh an a massive bag of salt for dying clothes.... surely you all have that under the sink too, and a mouse trap of course. The system cost £125.00. For that you get a pump, a little dentist style tap to pop on the side of your sink, a water storage cylinder and last but not least, the reverse osmosis system. The day it arrived Amanda was in London with her sister, I wanted to get it all up and running for when she arrived home, a little surprise. Well after a lot of faffing and a fair bit of leaking, I think the surprise was beginning to look more like an indoor kitchen based swimming pool than the desired water filtration system. I needed a drill. I called Sir Steve Prentice of Denbeigh Close-cershire, and requested a drill for a couple of hours. Luckily when the drill arrived Steve remained connected to it, and ended up doing most of the sorting out, where I had managed (to put it bluntly) to bollocks things up. Leaks were sorted out by inserting the little rubber bits that I had left out, on top of the sink. They fitted inside the screw fittings, these are apparently called 'olives'. Handy little pieces of kit, that ensure a water tight fit, important in this type of work. With us both holding and screwing (sorry for the innuendo) on the hard, concrete kitchen floor, our knees aching, arses in the air, heads stuffed under the sink (good God I can't stop!), hands groping around in a very snug labyrinth of plastic and copper pipes, everything eventually fell into place! Magic! Prentice you are a top man, it has to be said. Both the Prentices in fact. Prenti (I believe that is the plural) are superb. Paul had come out and sorted our sink blockage out only the previous week, with a clever trick using cling film.... Me, Paul Prentice and a roll of cling film.... and a tiny hand held torch, again strange images may be conjured up in your minds, but please don't let them develop, this was a plumbing job!

I digress, back to this morning.... I made Amanda's green juice, then began to prepare the 'big soup', this lasts a couple of days, which is bloody marvellous, convenience is rare in the Gerson Therapy.

Once the kitchen was cleaned down, it was 12.30pm.... Time to prepare our lunch, bloody hell! Baked spuds with houmous and cottage cheese, along with a concoction of delicious leaves and shredded veg, splashed liberally (well mine anyway) with a tasty dressing of flax oil (high in Omega 3, which Amanda is not getting from fish , so this is the next best source), apple cider vinegar and few other tasties. Time to make another juice - time to wash up after lunch.... time to have another juice.... ooooh a few hours to relax and work..... I read to Amanda for an hour in the garden, bathed in the afternoon sunshine. By 4pm it was time to juice again, then time to prepare tea (that's what us Northerners call evening 'dinner'). Amanda is currently in charge as we speak, I'm in the garden tapping at the keyboard updating you all.

Amanda did the Hornton Horley Circular Walk yesterday afternoon with Kesha, it was the first time she'd been out for a long walk (4.8 miles), and she was determined that she would be fine. She was, and they both blasted through it (not sure how blasted, but they completed it comfortably), this certainly stands Amanda in good stead for her preparation for the Moon Walk in Mid May. People doubted her, but she will smash it. A fortnight ago she was worried with the pain she was still suffering tied in with the low blood pressure and fatigue, she'd have had no chance, but the last fortnight has seen major improvements in her health, vitality and happiness. Oh yes she still gets frustrated and a little down, the Gerson Therapy is a bind and a challenge in itself, but she can manage. As I've already said, Amanda hates routine, but she is becoming accepting of it, which is a start for what she is about to take on.

Duane and Amanda (who we met at Penny Brohn), have ordered their first veg box, infact they have a fortnightly organic veg box being delivered, just to get the ball rolling! Amanda has discovered she likes red peppers, bonus, and they are going to soup all the veg to get the vital nutrients that Amanda requires to keep her strength up whilst she is on the chemotherapy. Big Duane (who is in the armed forces) suffered bladder cancer just over 12 months ago, he made light of it, 'They removed it, gave me a couple of things to drink, and that was that!' Tough man! Good to have him around, watching him trying to meditate was good fun too, I love opening my eyes and having a peak around the room at the folks having a crack at 'relaxation' or 'meditation'. Duane wasn't the 'meditating' type. He said, 'If someone had asked me to meditate, he'd normally just have laughed his head off!' I was the same, but for people under the everyday stresses of life, it certainly brings a little peace and quiet to the mind, even if it is for just 15 minutes a day.... of course, you could all just go fishing! It works for me, but to really appreciate it, you need 3 hours!