RADIO GOLD

Yes.

This was my birthday pie.

So we have had snow.

A lot of it. In a lot of places it is 4 foot deep, like in the sports field in Nacksta, which I walk across to get to school, it is up to my thighs..

A few things:

Snickers bars

-25 outside

Series 2 of Mad Men

Reading books

Getting diesel

Baking baguettes

Homemade chocolate mousse

Going into shops just to warm up a bit

Looking at the THERMO Meter!® seeing it say -23c and deciding not to leave the house

HOMEMADE SEMLA:

Ok, what is the best thing about almond croissants?

It is the sugary almondy paste right?

RIGHT?!

Well check it out, they sell that in tubes here!:

Yo, you can eat it on its own, on toast, in your porridge, on a steak wherever!

That is half the end slice of it there on the chopping board.

The swedes like to eat is in a cake bun thing called Semla.

And it looks like this when it is upside down and you are half way through eating it:

So what you do, is you get these special cardomon flavoured soft semla buns and you chop one in half like a burger bun, then, you squish the middle of the bottom half down a bit to make a kind of well for you almondy s-s-s-s-s-s-sweetness. (which you can mix with a bit of milk or water to soften up a bit.)

Then you smear it all over the inside of the bun, plentifully filling the well, THEN you pile high with freshly whipped cream, and replace the lid. Eat with a cup of Earl Grey tea, and you are onto a massive winner. Oh god, I wish I had another one right NOW!

What else?

Oh yeah, I haven't smoked since my birthday, which is quite nice for some reason.

I had one cigarette when Arsenal got beaten by Utd on sunday, but other than that I have been doing quite well.

It is something which I have been thinking about quite a lot this week. Once you get over the first few days it really isn't that bad. I realise that I am not the smoker that Max is for example, but I still consider it very doable. I was able to run for a lot longer than I usually am at the gym yesterday, and I put it down to not gretting.

I believe that the approach to smoking in 2010 should be that of a person who smokes as a pastime as opposed to an addiction or habit. It should be a treat, and treated in the same way as eating fast food for example, or drinking expensive champagne.

It should be something which is revered and respected, and enjoyed accordingly.

Something a bit naughty to reward oneself with as opposed to being enslaved by.

I think the key to giving up smoking is to have this attitude. It should be something which you allow yourself to do when you choose to, not when you feel like you have to.

I know Max is going to chime in with something like, "yeah, I just feel like I should give myself a treat every other 2o minutes or so".

And I don't mean, only smoking at the weekends or something, but smoking in that kind of Tony Soprano fashion, where you never see him smoking, except when there is a cigarette packet on the dashboard of a car and he will say "may I?" and that is it.

Yeah.