Apparently the stop smoking guru Allen Carr has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Its a useful reminder that giving up is no guarantee of boundless health and should be attempted for a range of reasons and just out of fear of illness.

I wasn't at all successful with his method but lots of people have been and I hope this new development isn't too serious for him.

Meanwhile it has been decided by my dearest R that the "hilliness" of my stomach demands abstinence from spaghetti for the foreseeable future. I was even banned from looking at the pasta shelves in Tesco's yesterday. I think this is a bit off - surely chocolate is much worse tummy-wise?

I met another recent ex-smoker whilst basking in the radiance of the Redsticks hospitality on Sunday. H had been going six months but had had a solitary relapse. She says the urge to smoke has grown since that relapse. As they say on the WhyQuit site I link to "Not a single puff more".

Today has been almost perfect so far. Work was of the brain dead variety that I prefer and I was able to check out the excellent Frank's cafe . I have good reason to believe their spaghetti bolognaise and chips is first class. I have very good reason. I took a lot of care today at lunchtime especially wearing a white t-shirt. When I got home I don't think R noticed anything suspicious.

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