Day 16 - Hi Ho

Today I went back to work. Well, technically I went back to work on Day 10. But today I actually went into the office. Which is about 120 miles away from where I had been convalescencing.

The Tube

On the Tube, I couldn't help but stare at other blokes, checking out their side profiles. I've noticed since the op that my top lip is now slightly in front of my bottom lip. It looks strange on me as I am not used to it, but my visual survey of Londoners reassures me that I now have a top-quartile side profile.

Work was nice. My workmates were added to the list of people who were amazed at the speed of my recovery. I got some compliments about my new side profile, even from people who didn't know that that was the aesthetic improvement I was most looking forward to.

Despite the epic speed of my recovery, I have actually lost a bit of weight. The trousers that had been a bit tight post-Christmas and post-travel fit comfortably again.

The mother has recently moved house, so there are still some bags of unpacked stuff around the place. As I was packing to return to London, one such bag spilled open. Out spilled loads of packets of blue elastics from the last time I had to wear them. So I now have a packet of elastics in every place that I am likely to be and every jacket I am likely to wear over the next few weeks.

The only problem with going back to work today was having to think about what to take to work. When your commute involves moving the few yards from the bed to the desk, there's not much to think about. Stupidly, I left my wallet at home. Fortunately, I managed to wrangle an invite to a lunchtime meeting which included a buffet. More on that in the menu section.

We had a team night out today, venturing into the doughnut for a pub quiz. We were doing pretty well until the fountain of knowledge of 1980s pop culture and to leave... and there was then a stream of questions on 1980s pop culture.

I am on the wagon at the moment.

There are several reasons for this:

• I don't fancy getting drunk and falling over and smashing my face up.
• I haven't yet returned to the gym, so I want all the calories I consume to be productive calories that will aid my recovery. I don't want to be the first person in the history of double jaw surgery to actually put on weight.
• I have a tendency to smoke when I am drinking. Filling my mouth with carbon monoxide probably isn't the best idea when I still have stitches in my gums.

Anyway, going teetotal over Easter isn't something new. At uni, one of my golden rules was to not drink from the start of the Easter break until my last exam. So, from mid-March to mid-June.

The added bonus of a few dry months is that the first few nights out after I fall off the wagon tend to be cheap due to reduced alcohol tolerance. Cheers to that!

Menu for today:

Breakfast was an unchopped banana.

Lunch was a buffet. It included chicken salad, spring rolls, prawn dumplings, and watermelon. Unfortunately there is no photo: The meeting was with a team I haven't worked with before, so it may have  left a bad first impression if I'd have taken a photo of some lettuce.

Tea was by far the most adventurous meal post-surgey: burger and chips at the pub. I was going to play it safe and go for some mini sausages. I'm glad I didn't.