Week 117:   3 - 9 Apr 2013


Wed 3:  cantaloupe 1250g,  grapes 650g,  Brown pears 440g,  cucumbers 450g,  avocados 650g, nuts 9g. (9.10 am: 20°C/69°F/74%, perfect). Power returns at noon.


Thu 4:   watermelon 750g,  grapes 1000g,  Golden Delicious apples 340g,  cucumbers 520g,  avocados 450g, Brazils 3g. (8.45 am: 18°C/64°F/75%, perfect. It soon warmed up to 22°)


Fri 5:  cantaloupe 1410g,  watermelon 880g,  grapes 1100g,  Golden Delicious apple 170g,  cucumber 230g,  marrow 200g,  nuts 17g. (8.40 am: 18°C/64°F/73%, perfect.) The marrow was horrible! First time I tried it raw in my life, probably the last.


Sat 6:  cantaloupe 1650g,  watermelon 850g,  grapes 1050g,  cucumber 320g,  avocados 200g, Brazils 8g. (8.45 am: 18°C/64°F/75%, variable sun and cloud)



Sun 7:  cantaloupe 1450g,  grapes 980g,   brown pears 400g,  cucumber 320g,  avocados 300g, nuts 22g. (8.45 am: 20°C/68°F/75%, walked to Gabriel Rd  P&P for a coconut, found none, got 2 brown pears at Silvertree. Only short flashes of sunshine today, but dry.



Mon 8:  cantaloupe 1350g,  grapes 980g,  Golden Delicious apple 240g,  tomatoes 300g, cucumber 320g,  avocados 375g, nuts 10g. (8.30 am: 20°C/67°F/78%, rain dripping outside) It cleared up by 10, I got a dry walk and sun to sit in after. I sit in the sun and figure out my next castello moves. I’m reading about Oswald Mosely in Diana Mosley’s book. And the eternal Delderfield.


Tue 9:  grapes 860g,  Golden Delicious apples 430g,  Packham pear 240g,  tomatoes 340g, cucumber 320g,  avocados 385g, Brazils 14g. (8.10 am: 18°C/64°F/76%, there was a sudden short shower at 5.30 pm, and now another at 8.15 as I type this.)


Week 118:   10 - 16 Apr 2013


Wed 10:   cantaloupe 1280g,  grapes 860g,  Golden Delicious apple 200g,  |Packham pear 340g,  tomatoes 200g, 3x260+2x330+cucumber 320g, nuts 14g. (8.10 am: 18°C/64°F/75%, perfect)


Thu 11:  cantaloupe 1150g,  grapes 950g,  Golden Delicious apples 600g,  tomatoes 200g, cucumber 320g,  avocados 260g, nuts 10g. (8.30 am: 17°C/63°F/71%, perfect)


Fri 12:  cantaloupe 1020g,  grapes 900g,  Golden Delicious apples 360g,  tomatoes 150g, cucumber 260g,  avocados 260g, nuts 10g. (8.30 am: 17°C/62°F/74%, perfect)


Sat 13:  cantaloupe 1120g,  grapes 1080g,  Golden Delicious apples 550g,  tomatoes 70g, cucumber 330g,  nuts 10g. (9.40 am: 20°C/67°F/74%, perfect)


Sun 14:  cantaloupe 1120g,  grapes 980g,  Golden Delicious apples 780g,  tomatoes 200g, cucumber 260g,  avocados 220g, nuts 9g. (8.40 am: 18°C/65°F/76%, perfect).

Walked up the hill in military base at 9 am before breakfast - a calm, perfect morning of utter peace and quiet - reminded me of Wordsworth’s early morning picture of London.


I see I have been eating cucumbers regularly since the 1st April. I have not done this for many years, and before, my experience of cucumbers was not what it is now. I’m enjoying them more and in a  new way that I can’t describe. Is it the world that is changing, or is it me?

The Golden Delicious apples this year ARE different, I’m sure - they’ve never looked such a beautiful red-golden colour, nor tasted so sweet. May be the result of the terrible winter we had last year, or is it just progress in Genetic Modification? (LOL)


I’ve been enormously influenced by people in my life, who remain as permanent role-model images in my memory. People such as schoolmates I hardly knew, simply a matter of a subtle cast in their characters; a woman on a mailship who simply portrayed an immense calm; a knight or saint as painted by Durer; a sophisticated lecturer in mathematics; an accidents clerk on the railways who doubled as a referee of boxing matches (I worked on the railways as junior/senior officer for 6 years); and all the novelists I admire. I’ve come to the conclusion that what I get out of them is ultimately just their personal character. And so I’ve got tired of reading Delderfield. I’ve drained him to the dregs, and it’s time to move on. My next discovery a week ago was AJ Cronin, whom I did not know at all but had a misconception about.


Mon 15:   grapes 1000g,  Golden Delicious apple 200g,  |Packham pears 520g,  tomatoes 100g, cucumber 260g,  avocados 420g, nuts 30g. (8.50 am: 18°C/64°F/76%, perfect with some thin cloud making a rather weak sun)


Tue 16:   cantaloupe 1270g,  grapes 1000g,  Packham pear 260g,  bananas 500g,  cucumber 330g,  dates 20g, avocados 420g, ground almonds 20g. (8 am: 19°C/66°F/78%, end of fine weather spell: NW gale, swift clouds low and higher, but still dry) -The rain started about 3 pm, went on non-stop till next morning.


Week 119:   17 - 23 Apr 2013


Wed 17:   cantaloupe 1220g,  grapes 920g,  Golden Delicious apples 320g,  Packham pear 260g,  dates 20g, nuts 100g. (8.30 am: 20°C/67°F/80%, northwester continues, rain on and off)


Thu 18:   naartjies 105g,  cantaloupe 1200g,  grapes 950g,  Golden Delicious apple 140+180g,  Packham pear 260g,  cucumber 260g, avocados 460g, nuts 36g. (8.45 am: 16°C/62°F/75%, a cold day with variable cloud thickness and sun strength. In the afternoon this changed to alternating full and obscured sun. One way or another, I managed to get as much sun as I could take. But still felt a bit cold!


Fri 19:  naartjies 105g,  grapes 850g,  Golden Delicious apples 600g,  Packham pear 260g,   cucumbers 500g,  dates 12g, avocados 460g, Brazils 200g, nuts 26g. (10 am: 17°C/63°F/71%, perfect but with a chilly southeast breeze)


Sat 20:  naartjies 210g,  cantaloupe 1500g,  grapes 920g,  Golden Delicious apples 560g,  cucumber 270g,  dates 12g, avocados 220g, nuts 26g. (9.45 am: 17°C/63°F/76%, perfect day)


Sun 21:  naartjies 105g,  cantaloupe 1480g,  grapes 900g,  Golden Delicious apples 420g,    cucumbers 400g,  dates 20g, avocados 500g, nuts 38g. (11.15 am: 20°C/67°F/74%, perfect day)


Mon 22:  cantaloupe 1480g,  grapes 900g,  Golden Delicious apples 250g,  tomatoes 140g,  cucumber 230g,  dates 16g, avocados 160g, nuts 35g. (10.45 am: 20°C/68°F/76%, perfect day)


Tue 23:  naartjies 210g,  cantaloupe 1620g,  grapes 540g,  Golden Delicious apples 750g,  bananas 190g,  tomatoes 300g,  cucumber 230g,  dates 20g, avocados 320g, nuts 47g. (9.30 am: 19°C/66°F/76%, perfect day)


Week 120:   24 - 30 Apr 2013


Wed 24:  naartjies 210g,   grapes 1100g,  Golden Delicious apples 300g,   tomatoes 200g,  E cucumber 460g,  dates 20g, avocados 480g, nuts 46g. (10.10 am: 20°C/68°F/78%, perfect day)


Thu 25:   cantaloupe 1480g,  grapes 920g,  Golden Delicious apples 300g,  tomatoes 300g,  E cucumber 400g,  dates 20g, avocados 500g, nuts 45g. (8.15 am: 20°C/67°F/76%, perfect, warm day)


Fri 26:   gooseberries 125g, cantaloupe 1220g,  grapes 1670g,  Golden Delicious apple 150g,   tomatoes 270g,  E cucumber 230g,  dates 4g, avocados 510g, nuts 68g. (10.10 am: 20°C/68°F/78%, perfect day)


Sat 27:  cantaloupe 1480g,  grapes 1350g,  Golden Delicious apples 260g,  tomatoes 110g,  E cucumber 220g,  dates 16g, avocados 420g, nuts 35g. (8.30 am: 20°C/68°F/76%, perfect day)


Sun 28:  grapes 1740g,  Golden Delicious apples 280g,  bananas 360g,  tomatoes 160g,  cucumber 250g,  dates 12g, avocados 510g, nuts 23g. (8.30 am: 20°C/68°F/76%, cloudy, almost took umbrella on my before-breakfast walk up towards the top of Wynberg Hill, but by the time I got home the clouds were mostly gone)


Mon 29:   grapes 870g,  Golden Delicious apples 1080g,  tomatoes 60g,  cucumbers 500g,  dates 20g, avocados 370g, nuts 36g. (8.30 am: 20°C/68°F/76%, perfect day)


Tue 30:  grapes 1000g,  Golden Delicious apples 400g,  Packham pear 310g,  bananas 520g,  tomatoes 580g,  cucumbers 500g,  dates 20g, avocados 170g, nuts 30g. (8 am: 18°C/64°F/75%, perfect day)


Week 121:   1 - 7 May 2013


Wed 1:  grapes 1120g,  Golden Delicious apples 510g,  Packham pear 310g,  cucumber 250g,  dates 8g, avocado 400g, nuts 30g. (9.45 am: 18°C/64°F/78%, perfect day)


Thu 2:  grapes 700g,  Golden Delicious apples 420g,  Packham pear 310g,   cucumbers 450g,  dates 32g, avocados 450g, nuts 40g. (8.45 am: 19°C/66°F/82%, it has been raining lightly overnight, but has now stopped) No sun today, but dry.


Fri 3:   grapes 930g,  Golden Delicious apples 600g,   cucumber 2x250+290g, chard 180g, dates 12g, avocados 480g, nuts 26g. (8.30 am: 18°C/64°F/78%, again raining earlier, but now stopped)


Sat 4:  grapes 600g,  Golden Delicious apple 150g,  Packham pear 280g,  cucumber 250g, chard 180g, dates 28g, avocados 620g, nuts 30g. (8.20 am: 16°C/62°F/74%, perfect)


Sun 5:  grapes 1310g,  Golden Delicious apple 150g,  Packham pear 280g,  cucumber 290g, chard 190g, dates 40g, avocados 710g, nuts 30g. (8.30 am: 15°C/59°F/75%, perfect)


Mon 6:  grapes 1050g,  Golden Delicious apples 600g,  Packham pear 280g,  cucumber 290g, chard 150g, dates 12g, avocado 290g, nuts 30g. (8.45 am: 15°C/60°F/75%, perfect). Reached 20° today.


Tue 7:  grapes 950g,  Golden Delicious apples 450g,  tomatoes 320g,  cucumber 270g, dates 28g, avocado 230g, nuts 30g. (9.10 am: 16°C/61°F/72%, perfect but for thin cloud) - the cloud got thicker - not such a nice day really... A couple of days ago I drank a quarter of a cup of nice plastic-bottled still spring water - the first drop I’ve drunk in months. Strong, harsh compounds in the chard made me thirsty. If I had blended the 200g of chard with 50g of the water, I wouldn’t have got thirsty.