But before you judge me, and brand me a failure, let me put forward my justification. Yesterday was my Grandma Meg's Birthday. And this has been the first time in about 4 years that I've been able to travel home to celebrate it with her. During my degree, the 20th of January would too often be the date of a mock exam, or the first lecture or tutorial of term; no chance of sneaking back to Yorkshire to down a few g&t's and play Scrabble. This year, however, with the degree safely behind me and no exams or tutes, I was able to come home be with my family. Both my brothers also made the trip. My gran was delighted when I told her I'd booked the day off work to hang out with her:
'That's great, Phil', she said. 'Have lunch at mine, I've got these lovely little cheese tart things we can have with some chips.'
And there came the dilemma. Stick to the veganism, (thus probably having to explain veganism) and make gran buy in new food after she'd already got something specially for me, or, decide that, actually, some things are more important.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that if I had had a moral conversion to veganism, and I was following the diet out of a strong conviction that eating any animal product was wrong, then my gran would have been completely understanding and made me some pasta. But I'm not. And I don't think that it's wrong. And I didn't want to put her out, and make her life awkward for something that is effectively a project to keep me busy whilst January happens.
It was the right choice. We had a great day, which was all about my gran and what she loves doing, rather than about me and what I don't eat. I'll carry on the project for the rest of the month. I've stuck to it today, and, despite a friend's suggestion that I should stop when Tom comes back, I'll take it through to the end of the month. But sometimes you have to ask yourself what is actually important. And yesterday, Vegan January just wasn't.
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