Marita and Justine are using the Footscray (Ballarat Road) McDonalds during their renovating, for quick snacks and tea (awful though it is) and access to a working, clean toilet. I hear tell the service there is pretty poor: incredibly slow (come to think of it I’ve seen it myself, on occasion), with often only one person serving, and perhaps another one or two out the back in the kitchen.

Speed is what people go to Maccas for. If you’re not getting served quickly, there’s not much reason for being there. You’re sure as hell not eating there for the taste or health reasons. I reckon if McDonalds haven’t got speed, they’ve got nothing.

When will I learn? Last week someone at work had fundraiser chocolate for sale. Two bars and $4 later… This week? Pimples.

I seem to be getting a pot belly, too. Well, a little bit. No danger of going up to the next trouser size… yet.

Need to keep decreasing the inputs (better diet) and increasing the outputs (more exercise). I confess, the grand plan of riding my bike every weekend has come off the rails, too. Bad me.

Of course, efforts to lay off the chocolate for a bit have already come unstuck. Apart from Easter next week, I just won an Easter hamper.

At least the fluffy toys won’t give me pimples.

Things I like about Captain Vegetable (from Sesame Street):

1. I don’t remember this song from when I was a kid. I discovered it when my kids watched Sesame Street.

2. The message! Yeah I’m getting health conscious. Not that it was ever likely to convince any kids.

3. The dodgy rhyming. “My name is Eddie… I love spaghetti…”

4. The strange-looking Captain Vegetable appearing, with Eddie asking “Are you some kind of weirdo?” “Do I look like a weirdo?” Eddie looks at camera and nods.

5. The appallingly catchy tune. In my less self-conscious moments, it gets sung around the house.

6. “Out of his secret garden, somewhere in New Jersey…”

Other favourite Sesame Street songs that I can think of right now:

• Exit (it’s the way, way, way, way out) — can’t find this online
• Monster In The Mirror (the kids love it because The Simpsons are in the celebrity version; apart from Ray Charles and a couple of others, gawd knows who most of the others are though — 90s American TV stars I guess)
• Subway (pokes fun at the crowding and heat)
• Telephone rock (it’s like the Muppets do ELO)
• Cookie Monster as Casey McPhee (”Through, through, through! He got the train through!”)

Once upon a time, I used to stock up on chocolate bars every week in the supermarket. I’d grab a week’s worth of 50 gram bars; typically whatever was on sale or available at a bulk discount (as long as it wasn’t Nestle). I’d then take one to work each day to snack on.

At one point I realised this wasn’t the healthiest, and switched to those mini versions. You know, the snack-sized little Picnic bar-lets and so on.

Then I tried meusli bars. At first the choc-chip ones, to wean myself off the chocolate.

Perhaps it’s a little like getting yourself off an addiction. One step at a time. Oh who am I kidding, chocolate IS an addiction.

Then I moved onto muesli bars with yoghurt, then to those that have more things like apricots and nuts. But while they’re healthier than chocolate, they’re not that much healthier, and they’re often quite expensive. In fact a Choice study showed in some cases a Mars Bar had less fat.

As the Choice article says: “A piece of real fruit is a much healthier snack.” And in fact now I’ve moved onto fruit. Typically with my lunch (which is usually a sandwich or roll) the snacks I’ll pack will be an apple, a banana (at last, affordable again) and a small box of sultanas (how could I resist the cheerful sultana faces on the packet?). I still need to graze on food throughout the day, but it might as well be a little healthier, as well as cheaper.

And chocolate? Keep it for special occasions. All part of the battle to stop my belly getting any bigger.

Hmm. I’m peckish.

Vale Harry Melbourne, inventor of the Freddo Frog. Maybe I’ll eat one today in his memory.

Quote of the day yesterday, first school day of the year: “I can’t believe I’m in Grade 6″ — Isaac. (Neither can I, as it happens.)

A big bunch of thumbs ups for all these, from the past couple of months.

The First Casualty by Ben Elton — a mystery set close to a century ago, a bit like Julian Barnes’ Arthur and George, and also very reminiscent of Black Adder 4, but with a much more serious look at the Great War. Elton’s usual humour is absent for this one, but it’s a great read.

High Society by Ben Elton — a look at drugs: the war against it, its presence in society both high and low. But unlike the above, plenty of humour.

Kenny — very very funny movie. Spotted a few locations I’m familiar with.

Junebug — what happens when white trash meets culture. Interesting.

Caffe Latte — Malvern Road, Toorak — work Christmas dinner was delicious. Very good. Probably expensive — I don’t know!

Wah Wah — Richard E Grant’s semi-auto-biographical film. Quite funny in parts, very dramatic in others. The DVD (at least, the Australian version) includes the interview from Enough Rope, which is fascinating.

PS Sunday night. Oh hooray, yet another full-page Barry Humphries article in the Sunday Age. We needed another one.

Two great blog posts I’ve read recently:

If you’ve ever worked in a service industry, and been on the receiving end of someone’s arseholedness, have a read of this — Nice consumer takes-on Nasty. I don’t recall ever encountering people of the moronic calibre when I was working in a shop. Either I was lucky, or they predominantly live in America.

What happens to your body if you drink a Coke. Hmm, I do like the occasional Coke, but maybe I’ll stick to tea for my caffeine injections from now on.

With renovations having begun at her house, Marita has moved in for a little while. So while there were three people at my place (for part of the week), there are now four.

Happily, this hasn’t quite created the havoc I half suspected with things like the capacity of the bathroom (the second toilet has avoided clashes) or the kitchen (to my surprise, I was able to simply turn the table by 90 degrees to fit a fourth chair in).

No, what’s really confused things is I’ve suddenly had to cater for four people at once. (Hey, it’s my house, and I work the shorter hours, so I do most of the cooking). The making of rolls or sandwiches for lunch has become much more of a production-line than it seemed to be before. Ditto serving out dinner onto plates.

And of course I’ve had to adjust all the quantities when buying groceries. When you’re serving two adults and two kids, no longer does one loaf of garlic bread cut it. Packs of sausages with eight snags are also no longer enough — I’ve bought two packs, cooked ten and frozen six from the second pack.

A few days ago I over-compensated and made an enormous amount of mashed potato. I can see it’s going to be a learning process.