I don’t get out very much in my impending middle-age but when I do go out, I go out. You will recall that a chance encounter with Petunia resulted in an unintended glass of wine. Well, July and August had many similar incidents.

Firstly I had dinner. Nothing unusual I hear you cry. My friend and I decided to have a steak to avoid any carbohydrate entanglements. The approach to food was a success, but we washed it down with a rather large amount of red wine. I will spare you the quantities in case you cannot deal with large numbers. This dinner was key to my August reboot.

The August reboot started very well. Then complacency set in. You see I travelled to Switzerland and burnt one of my two passes. The original idea of the “pass” was to allow an escape hatch - the odd night out here and there. The problem is the consequences of burning a pass to have a night out with colleagues. Which usually involves a “quick drink”. Which can easily turn into a late-night philosophy session. You already know how much I enjoy a philosophy session.

Anyway I prepared for the occasion with a large breakfast of croissants, jam and cheese. We met after work in a bar and enjoyed an aperitif. Then we moved on to a steak restaurant. I could have avoided carbs and if I had my wits about me I could have avoided alcohol too. But we progressed.

Actually we were not out too late. None of this is a problem for the odd cheat day. The problem was what happened next. I didn’t want to get back on the diet. I had no will power. It reduced to virtually nothing. The following evening I took a walk around Luzern to see the old town and then I ate dinner at the hotel. The hotel was serving some very nice ravioli and steaks with crochets. I could have avoided the carbs. I did not. I also had a small glass of wine.

Although the following two days were better food-wise, I had some wine on both days. And in fact, we come full circle because on Friday I ran into Petunia in London and we opened the wine…

My weight is up. I did more exercise in July and August generally but they were disasters diet-wise. Oh well. The only thing to do is start again.