We accidentally ate trout for lunch.
This wasn't the kind of accident where we fell into a river and some trout swam into our mouths. My wife asked if I wanted stir fry or salmon for lunch, in that way that implies I am getting a choice, but only because I will be cooking it. I plumped for salmon and went to the fridge to get out the fish that she had bought from the supermarket yesterday. It looked like salmon, but as I was opening the packet I saw that it was actually labelled as trout.
I don't know if I've eaten trout before and I assumed that if anything it would be a white or maybe even brown fish, but the fillets did look like salmon and my wife had mistakenly picked them up thinking that's what they were. Would she notice the difference? I am not sure that I would have done, apart from the fact that as I griddled the fish it expelled a lot more fat than I'd have expected from salmon.
I challenged my wife to see if she could taste anything unusual about the salmon, which I think just made her suspicious that I had done something awful to it, but she thought it tastes fine. I think had I not known it was trout, I would have eaten the whole thing assuming it was salmon. But prewarned I thought I did notice a slightly different flavour.
Sometimes with Warming Up I start a story hoping it's going to go somewhere interesting. That one didn't. Except to say that my preconceptions about trout have been over-turned. I think of salmon as graceful and carefree and luxurious and trout as grumpy and lazy and imagine that they'd taste like a lavatory overflow. But the trout is a match for the salmon, if a little more oleaginous. But apparently it's oily in a healthy way.
Another day of chores. I also had a little peek at all the things I have to get done and then felt a bit queasy and looked away fast. And decided to go to Staples to buy some stationery instead, which is a much more productive use of time. After 24 years of being a professional writer I have almost got my office in the perfect state to begin work. Almost. But not quite. I can settle down to it all soon.
The euphoria of sitting in front of the sea in the sunshine had made me think I would be at my computer, steam coming from my fingers as I emptied my teeming brain of ideas, but I suppose I should be content that I've got stuff done, even though little of it is writing. I am still hoping I can trick myself into writing a novel by installments by pretending that it isn't actual work - that it's actually my break from work, but not sure how realistic I am being. I have enough on my plate.
But I can play some successful mind games against myself. I popped into the gym, where I tricked my reluctant legs into 45 minutes on the exercise bike, by insisting that I had to keep going until the game of Monopoly I was playing on my phone had finished. It was a long game and I was ultimately victorious over the penguin, cab and Christmas Tree, but I was impressed that I had pulled off this psychological trick over my own brain. Especially given that I had used my own brain to think it up. I had felt tired after 3 minutes, but the importance of finishing the game over-rode tiredness and logic. I don't know if this is an exercise tip that would work for all. But playing a game distracts me from the exercise and having to finish the game spurs me on when I remember that I am in pain. I am not cycling very fast, but that doesn't matter if I cycle for a long time.
Can I turn this into a diet book? Only for people who are slighly OCD when it comes to video games. And also enjoy boring board based video games. Ah well.
Great to be home and so on.
A little bit from "We're All Going To Die!" has been animated. Check it out here. Tour dates are here. Book ahead. Reading is already sold out!
And I am busily trying to book the upcoming series of RHLSTP. So far only have some guests pencilled in (Oct 28th looks incredibly tasty with 3 world class comedians half-committed to fill the two slots). Tickets are selling well without names announced for all gigs, so worth taking a punt. I won't let you down. Book here.
