I am now on 2 weeks of annual leave.
2 weeks that I have taken at the same time every year since I started working again 8 years ago to enable me to get ready for Xmas.
By the time I go back to work all presents will be bought and wrapped and the Xmas decorations will be up.

Normally I am well and truly into Xmas shopping by now, but this year has been a slow starter and I have literally done nothing!!

It’s been a tough week with workmen installing new radiators and pipes and the house is a warzone.
On the upside, we had heating over the weekend for the first time in 4 weeks!!

The workmen are back today to ‘hopefully’ finish off, filling holes, tidying up, etc, and then I can really get stuck into what I need to.

I think Friday last week was the most depressing day we’ve had since the whole heating saga.
Everyone in the house was completely fed up with being cold and damp and feeling rough.
Everyone else had left the house to go to work or school and I was left in the house with workmen. The house was freezing because the heating hadn’t been switched on and they were still in and out of the house with the doors open and at that point there was only a slim chance of the heating being on for the weekend.

I couldn’t face it so I drove to Milton Keynes to spend a few hours in a warm cinema with Adam Driver and ‘Paterson’.

It’s the second time I’ve seen it now and it’s still beautiful. It put the smile back on my face and I’m glad to say that I came home to heating!!!
This weekend has been warm and lush.

We got quite a bit of sorting and tidying done over the weekend so when the workmen are done it shouldn’t take long to finish.
So today I’m relaxing a little before the manic, panic of Xmas prep work starts.