*sips on his coffee and settles down to write*

Its Tuesday. Yes I know I said I would post on the weekend. I didn't. Sorry. But I'm here now, so every cloud etc etc *smiley face*

As I left you on Friday I was not a happy chappy. I was over the week, the challenge and pretty much everything else in general. I went to bed after writing with the intention of sleeping until midnight and then going out for coffee. I did sleep but it wasnt quality sleep. I kept waking up and every time I checked the clock about two minutes had passed. It was, quite possibly, the longest six hours of my life.

At 11.40pm I got up and headed to a garage I knew would be open which also sold real coffee. I knew it was approximately a 20 minute drive and it was better that I was doing something than just lying there. As I came off the motorway and dropped down the hill the midnight news came on the radio and I knew I'd made it. A minute later I turned into the garage forecourt - just as every police officer in central Auckland decided to go on their break.

There were six police cars in front of me and as I parked another three drove in behind me. I found myself at the back of a queue of 18 people all ordering coffee. I looked across at the barista and realised the poor chap was all on his own, so I wandered off and found a seat in the corner and waited for my coffee to be made whilst trying not to look like a junkie waiting for his fix. At 12.25am on Saturday morning I posted the following pic to FB and took my first sip of coffee since Sunday evening...

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The rest of the weekend was one of recovery. The caffeine played havoc with my body clock so I was up early Saturday but by the time I met a friend for brunch (she too had undertake the BTL challenge) I've done all my laundry, been grocery shopping, wandered around the mall and replied to all mails from the night before. Saturday afternoon I spent shopping with another friend and by the time the evening came around I was shattered.

Sunday I spent with my parents. My parents have been so supportive of the BTL challenge - checking in on my progress every day (they even followed me on here) and just before the end they topped up my donations to allow me to reach my final target of $1000. It was nice to be able to share a quite stunning roast lunch and just spend the day catching up with them.

Come Monday it's back to work and the BTL week begins to fade as the reality of this week hits home. It's one of the most hectic weeks of the year and honestly if the BTL challenge had been this week I doubt I'd have coped. But with my blood:caffeine ratio returning to normal, things are much easier. Its a shame how quickly things do fade, and as I made tea this evening (spaghetti bolognaise) I could help but smile as I used the leftover half tin of tomatoes in the sauce.

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"Would I do it again?" is something I've been asked several times over the last few days. To be honest... no I wouldn't. As I said right from the start, one of the motivators for me was the challenge itself and I've ticked that off the to-do list. I know what I would do differently, how I could make it easier but I dont feel any great drive to repeat the experience. Nor experience the sciatic pain!

However on the other side of the challenge at 1.53pm this afternoon my phone went ding as a gmail arrived. Some kind anonymous soul had donated $100 to me and left a nice supportive message. Now although the anonymous bit drives me a little nutty (quite possibly they knew it would!) , the donation was amazingly generous and I do wish I could thank them personally. If they happen to read this - thank you.

Being able to do something worthwhile for others has been hugely rewarding for me - and I intend to continue to support and participate in other events more frequently in the future. The challenge itself was an eye opener - I don't say it was hard, but it was revealing. In many ways (like a number of other moments in my life) its an experience that I suspect will take a while to process and that I will continue to learn from it. But for now life has returned pretty much to normal as the day-to-day distractions return but its something I am very pleased to have done and I am proud of the outcome of my efforts.

My final thanks goes to everyone who did support me during the challenge. To those that sponsored me so generously, and those that put up with me last week - you are all wonderful people and I couldn't have done it without you. *hugs*

Day Five - I'm done

I'm tired. End of the week. End of the challenge. Short post tonight, forgive me.

Todays menu:

This speaks for itself. I just cant be bothered cooking tonight, I've no fruit left, Ive drunk the milk and the end is just a few short hours away. Tomorrow it's all done and I intend to have coffee and a significant amount of dead animal flesh.

What do I have left over?

• 4 slices of bread
• 125g pasta
• 1/2 tin tomatoes

The silverbeet is still in the garden, as are the lemons. Everything else is gone. 

No doubt I'll have time to contemplate over the next few days and will come back to post before the weekend is over. My thanks to those of you who have kept me company over the last week, but I'm going to sleep now. Maybe all night - maybe just until midnight ;)

PS Up to $939. My thanks to all my generous sponsors. I've been good and not deviated from the rules. You've all kept me true to the cause.

Day Four - 7th Innings Stretch

I've always enjoyed sporting traditions. It really doesn't matter what they are, it just interests me how certain things have arisen and become part of something larger. The 7th innings stretch is one such eccentricity. The history of how it came into being is, like many such phenomena, subject to much discussion, but every baseball game play in America has one and sometimes the why doesn't really matter.


Its the evening of day four of the challenge - my own 7th innings stretch. Time to stand up, walk around for a few minutes and get ready for the final chapters in this short adventure. It's been a long day and one where the realisation of what you are doing, and how it could be in a wider reality of actually having to 'live below the line', starts to hit home.

But first (even before the details of the menu for the day!) - I just want to link my BLT page.

 https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/breevok 

 Currently I sit on $788 raised so far, a sum Oxfam will surely put to good use. Feel free to donate more - trust me when I say there are people out there who are desperate for all of our support.

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Anyway todays menu - see Monday. No really, see monday. 

  

Breakfast - porridge. OK, my waxing lyrical has petered out a little, but its comfort food and that cant be sneezed at.

Lunch - as discussed yesterday, the days of luncheon sandwiches are over never EVER to return. But fruit for lunch was nice.

Dinner - the return of tomatoey pasta. Hooray! No photo - looked just like Monday and Tuesday. 

Supper is yet to come but who can argue with fruit and some milk? o.O

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With any challenge that has a finite time associated with it, as the end approaches you mind turns to events afterwards - as it helps get through the last hour/day/week. This challenge is no different. But what is so hard with this challenge, that you long for the 'its over' bit? Well for me, obviously its the caffeine. But there are other things. 

Earlier on the BTL FB page they posted a quote:

"Day three of Live Below the Line and I felt a bit like I’d hit a wall. Not so much out of hunger, though the pangs were there, but mainly a hankering for something other than rice, oats, lentils or chickpeas" 

Oh yes indeed. This diet isnt hard, its just boring. My favourite food is Italian, and I cant see myself having pasta again for weeks. Tomatoes will be banned cooking ingredient until Christmas. Luncheon will never cross my lips again, ever. I miss so many things - but what I miss most is variety. Freedom to choose and that is the whole point!

As the saying goes, walk a mile in their shoes. I havent walked a mile, just a few feet but it quickly becomes a reality check. I chose to do this, I chose whether I complete it, whether I cheat, whether I dont (I havent). I chose. But this isnt a choice for everyone.

Much as the 1.2 billion people living in poverty worldwide are the big picture - there are always smaller stories that are as important. As I discovered back in August when I first engaged in this challenge in 2006/07 22% of New Zealand children were living in poverty. That is, in households with incomes below the 60% median income poverty line. This isnt something that is happening somewhere else. Its happening in your town, within a few miles of you, just down the street or right next door to you.

So as my dreams turn to large flat whites and eye fillets - my own seventh innings stretch - its worth thinking about what we have been emulating. First world problems really are brought into perspective when you think about it that way.

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 https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/breevok

Day Three - a moment of clarity

As day three draws to a close, I sip on my 200ml glass of milk. Today has been the toughest day of the challenge so far, but as as Ed Hillary said "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

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Firstly today's menu:

Breakfast - oh dear sweet breakfast, how I love thee. If there is one thing I will always cherish from the BTL Challenge is discovering porridge!

Lunch - I ate lunch in a seminar at work. Great seminar - 4 minutes snapshots of the research going on across the School - the variety is amazing. Shame the same couldnt be said about lunch. I made a decision as I forced down the sandwich - never ever again. Tomorrow will be fruit only and I'll find other uses for the bread and the damn luncheon meat. If there was one thing I wish I could have done differently when making my purchases - I'd have purchased 150g of shave ham instead of the 200g of luncheon meat. Lesson learnt!

Dinner! And its not pasta! I don't quite know what it is - but it was tasty. Rice, soy sauce, luncheon, silverbeet stalks fried off and served on top of the silverbeet leaves.

Saving the fruit for lunch for now on, I had a glass of milk to make up my allowance for the day. Another successful day eating. I honestly haven't struggled with feeling hungry at all during the three days so far. If only it was what I've found difficult...

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We all knew we'd get here eventually didn't we? Other than needing a constant supply of tissues, my cold/flu from the weekend has gone. But the leg pain I mentioned yesterday hasn't. I admit to myself now something I wasn't quite ready to admit to myself last night as I typed. The pain had only started late on Monday and continued to intensify on Tuesday. Today is has continued and although I currently have some respite I suspect it will return later.

The pain isn't a flu symptom but is a somewhat less well known side effect of caffeine withdrawal. Google it for yourself - story after story of sciatic pain suffered by those taking a break from caffeine. Having never experienced more than the occasional trapped nerve, I really wasn't ready for this. It's one of those pains that just is - it really doesnt matter what you do. Sitting. Standing. Lying. Foetusing. It just bloody hurts. And I a typical bloke - I don't like pain. Evidently it passes in a few day - every cloud I guess. I have also avoided the headaches - which is surprising as I prone to a good headache or five. But let me assure you that at 3am this morning as I was googling caffeine withdrawal symptoms I nearly said to hell with the BTL challenge. It was only because I had a sleeping Tuvok snoring on me as I failed to watch the cricket that I didn't.

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But I need to address the elephant a moment - what do I do on Saturday with my addiction? As a friend of mine told me yesterday:

Instant coffee is a basic human right for office workers.

Today was the first day that I have been able to distinguish symptoms and work without caffeine is an interesting experience. It's not just the leg pain (although that isnt endearing caffeine free life to me much) but my brain. I have lost the edge. I became the man who couldn't multitask. I felt out of control, and that is not a place I enjoy being.

One of the many pages I read in the night struck me and I cant help but reproduce a small section just because it struck a chord as I reread it this evening:

My days now go downhill. This is a strange new experience for me. My mornings start bright and clear and the weariness of my mind and body slowly builds until evening. On the one hand, I don’t crash multiple times throughout the day, but on the other hand, I’m completely worthless at night

Is this what normal people feel like?

I don’t know if I like it.

(http://blessedmadman.wordpress.com/)

That really does sum it up for me, I don't know if I like it.

So sorry, as much as I know people will be suggesting I dont, I will be having a large flat white on Saturday morning. Possibly four.

Want to Donate? https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/breevok

Day Two - a moment of genius!

As I reach the end of day two, I sit feeling comfortably full. I still have a banana up my sleeve for supper but without further ado here is today's menu...

Well that pretty covers everything doesnt it? Basically yesterday's menu repeated! Except with subtle differences which I will now wax lyrical about...

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OK first stop breakfast -

I over cooked it today - still very nice. Worth getting out of bed for, even if the sailing wasnt.

Lunch - two rounds of sandwiches compared to one yesterday. An attempt to redress the balance of bread usage from yesterday - and yes they are fine but I can honestly say that once this week is over I will never ever each luncheon meat ever again. Tuvok seems ok with it though, so every cloud and all that. I also had lemon with hot water to fight back the cold... I missed the honey!

And then to dinner...

Looks very similar to yesterday n'est-ce pas? Well if you think so then you are missing the two slices of bread!

OK give me my 30 seconds of joy and happiness why dont you? That isn't toast. It's fried bread. Good old fashioned English fried bread. The kind mum used to make to go with a full English breakfast. Cooked in the flavoursome fat from all those sausages and bacon and black pudding. Or, in the case of the Below The Line Challenge, not cooked in the flavoursome fat from all those sausages and bacon and black pudding.

I've been thinking about bread a lot in the last 24 hours - dry bread and dry toast - well it just doesn't rock my world. With no butter or margerine in my budget, I kept failing to come up with alternatives. I thought about french bread but although I have milk I have no eggs. Then it dawned on me - butter/marg=fat. Oil=fat. Oil on bread - very cosmopolitan if its olive oil but not so much when its canola oil. The only option left - fried! Genius!

Frankly the best 10c I've spent on the challenge so far, in my humble opinion.

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OK and now for my thoughts of the day

Tuvok -

It appears that she really doesnt appreciate her pasta being served with a tomato sauce and really would prefer I reverted to the normal dairy focused coverings in the future.


Illness - getting there, should be 90% again tomorrow.

Coffee - I have this weird symptom from the cold (or perhaps its the caffeine withdrawal) is extreme bouts of cramp in my legs. Hurts like crazy, wish it would stop. I am hoping it is the illness and not the lack of caffeine because don't know if I could cope with another 3 days of it.

Progress -  so far so good. Variety is lacking, but that is to be expected seeing as I am flying solo on this. Just having one more person doing it with me (thus having $22.50 budget for two) would have meant so much more variety in the menu. But c'est la vie. Two days down, three to go - and with rice on the menu for tomorrow at least you lot will all get a different pic to look at.

https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/breevok - $738 raised so far :)

Day One

Its 7.23pm and I just had dinner. I still have to eat an apply and a kiwifruit. I feel full. Hmmm...

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OK where to start? I suppose when I woke up. I woke feeling terrible and had no choice but to call in sick. I've spent much of today asleep and cant say I feel significantly better now. But I have stuck to the Below The Line Challenge. Here's todays menu:

Breakfast was great - bar the sailing. But the porridge was tasty and I was glad I made the investment in the sugar. I think I've quickly worked out that it's going to be the little things that will make me happy this week - and from today's efforts breakfast was my favourite meal of the day and may well continue to be.

Lunch was... as to be expected. As the week goes on, and the bread gets drier I am sure that this will become more of a chore than anything. But I intend to subsidise lunch with fruit from now on.

Dinner was big and filling and tasty. I even had a glass of milk to ensure I used my daily allowance. And that left me 56c which I've used on fruit which has to be eaten tonight. Because it was day one I didnt know exactly how much everything was going to cost and what that would leave over.

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Anyway onto thoughts for the day...

Bread - bread, like milk - has a  quota I need to meet so I dont waste it. The bread has 19 slices so I should be eating 4 slices a day - today I only ate two. I really cant bring myself to two pieces of bread. Tomorrow I need to have bread with dinner (which will undoubtedly look like today's tea)

Coffee - I miss it. Terribly.

Illness - sucks. Period

See you tomorrow!

T Minus One - Part Four

OK the deed is done.

7 slices of ham and chicken luncheon - $1.08 - 16c a slice
1 banana - 35c
1 apple - 42c
Bread - $1.47 (19 slices including crusts) - 8c per slice

So total spend $10.38. That leaves 87c for lemons, silverbeet, seasoning and oil.

Why fruit  - well fruit is a great backfiller - anytime, anyplace, anywhere.

So now I just have to finish off everything in the fridge that will go off in the next week, make my lunch for tomorrow and have an early night to fight off this cold. See you tomorrow at the end of day one...