Attack of the killer arachnid

So last night I thought I'd have an early night as I was so tired. Bf was out boozing (which he'd probably call 'networking' or 'debreifing'). I headed into the bedroom at 9pm, switching the light on and pulled the curtains. And there was THE most enormous spider I've ever seen, skulking menacingly on the curtain. I ran top speed out of the room whilst my heart decided whether to stop altogether or beat at 800 beats per minute. It went for the latter and I swear all the hair on my head was on end. I used to be a real arachnophobe and had hypnotherapy to stop me going catatonic or into hysteria. So, I'm alot better but still extremely frightened. I managed to stay in the flat (quite an achievement) and as I'd had a text from bf to say he was on his way home at 8.50pm just called my mum to try and calm down. But at 9.30pm I had to ring bf to check where he was - I needed him home now. He was still in the pub but, to his credit, left immediately. He got home at 10.40pm and it was just as well he had some dutch courage - this thing was too big to catch with a beaker (his usual method), he had to use a pudding bowl. I am not kidding. He had to dismember it into several pieces to flush it down the sink. (I insist he kills them). Don't tell me they're more frightened of me than I am of them (my grandmother's phrase) because there's no way that's true - I'm terrified. But by the time I calmed down and got to bed (all my stuff to get ready is in the en suite beyond the bedroom) it was about 11.30pm - so much for my early night.

But, heroically, I got out of bed in time to walk along the Thames path this morning. This means that as long as I run tomorrow (and I can't at the moment come up with a compelling excuse to avoid it) I'll have run 3 times this week and walked in twice. It was not sunny so I probably looked slightly poncey in my sunglasses but I needed them to hide my nosiness in everyone. Most surreal experience was an exotic looking man playing an indescribably perky rendition of "If I Were a Rich Man" on the glockenspiel under a bridge.

Not doing so well on the pack front though. I keep picking (at protein and the odd bit of fruit so could be worse) and so forego my last 2 packs of the day to compensate. So yesterday I had a pack for breakfast, some ham, a bar and 2 nectarines for lunch and 2 slices of smoked salmon and 3 tsp of peanut butter for supper. I am trying to stick to the packs today (and henceforth) and not take the yummier option of substitution. Weight is not exactly dropping off me - only lost 3lbs of that 10lbs so far.

Good news is that Naughty R will be coming to LL with me for the next month - she wants one final push to get down to her goal weight. She has concerns though that as long as she knows she can starve herself on packs for a week and get a good loss (and she does have good results), she doesn't have a disincentive to binging. I take her point. And I don't know what the answer is. I definitely don't want to have a long-term relationship with packs. She'll be the perfect antidote to all the dippy-hippy, wishy-washy cod-psychology!

And my manager's boss asked me if I was pregnant today! She knows I don't want children and I think it's a pretty rude thing to ask someone, especially in a corridoor! I instantly felt fat of course but when I thought about it, I think it was motivated by nosiness (she is the biggest gossip) as I went off for a quick private meeting with my manager yesterday and she can't bear not to know what it's about (just some careers advice between us). Still seething gently over it though.