Starting a new week

You can really tell that it's November in my little corner of the world - dog walks are now shorter, more layers are worn and the walking boots are in regular use in preference to trainers.  Funny how the weather never bothers Coco though, she's up for a walk any time of day and any kind of weather.  One of the benefits of having a layer of fur I guess!

It was a nice social kind of week last week, the kind of week that I used to take for granted so it was even nicer to meet up with friends that I hadn't seen for a while.  One friend I had dinner with on Thursday has had a 'Long Lost Family' moment and discovered that she actually has three half siblings that she previously knew nothing about.  Can you imagine the shock? It would seem that her mother had had quite a secret history before settling down with her dad.  

It was nice to get glammed up to go out for dinner with three other couples on Saturday.  The thing that links this group is that our other halves all play badminton together on a Tuesday evening.  But the weather was horrendous that day and it seemed very weird to go out wearing a sparkly sleeveless top and trousers but have to wear a thick padded coat, hat and gloves to survive the walk from the car park to the restaurant!  Isn't it hard to motivate yourself to get all dressed up in the evening when you've been sitting around in comfy joggers and a warm sweater and socks all day.

The sparkles came out again on Sunday as it was our Zumba class's pre-Christmas party, we didn't get to have one last year so we all kept our fingers crossed that it would happen this time.  It was so much fun, there was live music (the female singer does an Adele tribute act and had such a brilliant voice) and of course as we are all Zumba dancers we were dancing all afternoon!  My feet didn't know what had hit them, not only wearing proper shoes with heels for the first time in I don't know how long, but two hours of almost non stop dancing.  

So here we are today and there is another meal out - this time for lunch.  There needs to be some serious healthy eating for the rest of the week!

But first a trip to the car dealership to start the process of choosing a new car.  The contract on my Mini finishes in March and the time between ordering and car arriving is currently about three months so I need to make a decision.  Who am I kidding?  There's no decision to be made - I will get another Mini, I love them!  My only query this time is do I go for automatic or manual?  I normally have manual but Paul has an automatic car and I'm tempted to do the same. 

I'm so pleased that we organised our pre-Christmas 'events' early this year as I'm sure I'm not the only one who is feeling a bit suspicious about the prospect of more restrictions as we move into December.  We seem to be working our way through the Greek alphabet of variants far too quickly!