In preparation for the trip to Rome, I’m working my way through a list of 99 things to do before moving to another country. One of these was ‘Get a dental MOT’. So, after 10 years of avoiding the dentist, I finally caved last week. Overall, not bad. A couple of minor fillings, but in pretty good shape, considering it’s been ten years, and the amount of Diet Coke I drink.

I drink assloads of Diet Coke. Retarded amounts. And it’s easily the worst thing for my teeth because not only does the sweetener rot the teeth (although I’ve seen Mythbusters - it’s not as corrosive as people say), the copious amounts of caffeine running through my system makes me grind my teeth in my sleep. I wake up with a sore jaw and my teeth are slightly worse for wear.

This was made worse by the weekend that was in it. H. had over to Rome for a bit of a reccy. Checking out the apartment, checking out the people she would be working with. Which left me with four days all to myself. I did nothing but eat junk, drink Diet Coke and play Crackdown on the Xbox 360. I came out the other side feeling rotten. Not so much a shadow of my former self, but a dirty, bloated, jiggly play-do model of my former self. So, big changes are afoot.

Yesterday marked the first day without Diet Coke. And it was awful. I was sucking down Tramil to cope with the headaches, I was going outside every hour for some air to keep me awake. I was grouchy. I was lethargic. And since I could barely keep my eyes open, I probably shouldn’t have driven up to Tesco at 9pm.

Today, however, it’s all different. I managed to get out of bed when my alarm went off, instead of hitting the snooze button for an hour. My headache is gone, and I’m already getting work done. Hell, I’m almost lucid.

It’ll never last.