Shugar Shores

‘Sugar’ and ‘sure’ are the only two words in the English language that are spelt with ‘su’ but pronounced ‘shu’. ‘Shugar Shores’ would be a terrifically bad name for a television drama series set in a North Queensland coastal town about a family of sugar cane farmers.

So close, so very very close. I think I can actually see the finish line, but sadly it isn’t paint, I think its just a horizontal line of white sugar.

I woke up feeling really groggy, a little bit of a sugar hang over type situation going on. ‘Hair of the dog’ as they say so time to smash some more sugar down the mouth hole.

As my eyes opened and the lashes untangled themselves I was greeted by a magnificent looking pregnant lady resting a tray on her bulbous belly. On this tray was a cup of tea with 2 sugars and 3 slices of Tip Top Raisin Toast (4 teaspoons of ‘shugar’). I devoured this then the kind waitress joined me for a post breakfast snuggle. Tip Top indeed.

I then commenced some more writing in the office and for motivation downed a kids Pop fruit drink with 26 grams in its 250ml plastic capsule or a cool 6 teaspoons.

Come lunchtime, the stomach was aching so some 2 minute noodles were prepared in a very ‘lazy male’ type of way. Quick, tasteless but ultimately filling. The sugar count needed to be upped though so I knocked back my old trusty friend the Vanilla Ski low fat yoghurt dessert mousse panacotta custard brûlée. Delicious. 12 teaspoons.

The lady and I then hit the road and went back to visit the Professor of Psychology that I have been seeing during the film. It was great to share some stories of the trip and was heartening to realise we did get some terrific stuff that people are going to be fascinated to hear about. We talked about the mind’s incredible ability to adapt to circumstances and he has observed me go through a series of emotional states during this film. He noted how much brighter I looked now than at the 3 week mark and that I had ‘adapted’ to my new diet. We discussed what a blessing and a curse this is. People do get used to the feelings of sugar and it becomes a state of mind they can easily operate in, but sadly their body often lags badly behind and the deleterious effects ensue. This is why if I kept this diet up, I would be a very unhealthy person in a very short space of time. Imagine a lifetime.

We then grabbed a mango chicken wrap (5 teaspoons) on the way home and settled in for an afternoon of more work. It’s amazing how I have hit the ground running since being home. I think I may just hit the ground without running on Monday when my body is finally let off the sugar hook.

For dinner we shared a pizza which had a little too much BBQ sauce (5 teaspoons) and I had a small glass of apple juice (6) just to keep the sickly sweetness rolling along. I then drank about 2 litres of water to wash the salt away. But thats probably another movie. Please nobody eat 40 teaspoons of salt a day.

Tomorrow is the weekend and that means there is only 2 days left. 2!! 80 teaspoons remaining. Haha. Shove that up your bum Mary Poppins. (Side note: My lady loves Mary Poppins so much and is refusing to let me use ‘Spoonful of Sugar’ in the film. She doesn’t want it tarnished. Sadly I now view Mary as some sort of crack dealing sugar pimp flying umbrella woman. Tarnishing complete).

I will sleep very softly tonight in the knowledge that the end is near. I will dream of large green smoothies and cane fields burning. I will also dream of the return of a calm and peaceful mind with sounds of light rain on the roof and the gentle lapping of waves against Shugar Shores.

58 done and dusted and another ridiculous 40.