300 Routine on VE Day

There's an irony about VE Day that's lost on many:

• 8th May 1945, VE Day. 
• July 5th 1945, a grateful nation votes out Winston and the Conservatives and votes in a Labour government with a 146 seat landslide majority. 

Churchill's problem was that, for the duration of the war, he'd paid little or no attention to domestic politics. In the 1945 General Election the electorate was in the mood for change and reform. The Conservatives didn't offer it, relying instead on Churchill's war record.

Hay was reading about how an actor beefed up for his role as Captain in 300, the film about the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae. He lost 2.8 stone while training for the role and was 55 at the time. I think she was trying to tell me something.

His trainer was from an organisation called Gym Jones and the secret is to not allow the body to get used to a particular routine so as to put it under the maximum stress.

Hay said I should try it, despite already being at the Stage 2 physique in the photos of the actor above, using a mild regime of press-ups and weights every other day, combined with the 2/5 diet, which I'm not as religious about at present, in terms of the total carbs consumed on the skinny days, as I have been in the past. I'm not really dedicated or focused enough to try to get to stage 3, much as I'd like to, and content to merely be 'reasonably fit' for my age as a means prolonging my time on this blue marble and getting the most return on the Ponzi scheme that many call a pension.

I really do like the concept behind the workout though - not allowing your body to get too used to a routine. So, I'm going to start on day 1 by reading Wolf Hall. Day 2 will be a bit of arguing with morons on Facebook. Day 3 will be reading some of Trouble with Lichen. Day 4 will be some shopping, taking care to ensure that, each time I go shopping, the weight of the shopping varies considerably. Day 5 might be a bike ride. Day 6 would require me to rest, obviously. Day 6 mowing the lawn, but using different routes each time I perform this taxing routine.

That overall programme would stress any man's body to the limits of endurance.