My name's Anthony...

... and I'm a foodaholic. It has been 9 years since my last McDonald's.

Mainly because I realised that life was too short for tasteless, water-filled, sugar-laden (yes really), morally-questionable burgers. It's not hard to find or make much better food, and it doesn't necessarily have to be more expensive, but habits and misconceptions are difficult to get rid of.

My ex once expressed surprise at me arriving home late from work one night and making a steak sandwich. "I don't know how you can be bothered 'cooking' at this time of night," she explained. What was expected was to get home, stick some frozen chips and a crispy pancake in the oven, and eat that. My steak sarnie was ready in 10 minutes, the chips and pancake would have take a little over an hour.

And that was before I actually realised I could cook. And personally I'd rather spend the time in the kitchen preparing something much tastier and of more definable providence than slamming a pre-packaged lump of guess-the-meat in the oven before baking my brain in front of the telly. Radio 4 or BBC7 while cooking are my friends...

That's not to say I don't like trashy food. But there's a difference between tasty trashy food and made-for-the-masses-to-be-replicated-the-world-over gunk.

On a slight tangent there was a programme on Channel 4 (I think) last year where an expert was trying to convince people in certain towns to ditch the car, especially for the school commute). One woman drove her kids about a mile to school, taking over 40 minutes. They walked one day with the presenter and it took 20 minutes. She went back the following week and there was the women in her car again. When asked why she expounded, "We were running late and in a hurry."

That is how much logic does not dictate these things. Habits and misconceptions. That's all you need for control.

p.s. Decided to rationalise the garage a little and one of the bikes is going (hopefully) via eBay. Very nice Puch Elegance that I saved from a pile of scrap metal with the plan of restoring. Everything just really needs a decent clean and a few parts renewed. But I'm not sure it would be used once done, and I've got quite enough projects on the go, and even a tenner from this would help realise a couple of things.