For the next 40 days I will be avoiding...

Lent is a bit of a funny time in our house. Mark is the more religious of us but he thinks Lent is pretty stupid, whereas I'm not particularly religious but love the concept of Lent. I don't know whether it's just childhood nostalgia but there's something about religious ritual that appeals to me (and the idea of abstinence is not solely Christian).

I've given up alcohol a couple of times, with varying degrees of success (the first time I was halfway through a pint, three days in, before I remembered I shouldn't be drinking). But that seems like cheating now that I usually only have a few glasses of wine on a Saturday evening. So this year I'm giving up sweet things.

I think there might be a few caveats as the month goes on - maybe I could have the odd biscuit? We know from years of research that an Eccles cake isn't really a cake, so maybe that doesn't count? I'll let you know how I get on...