Where did January go?

I always seem to be in a vile mood on mondays. I know it's nothing unusual, but it was as if every fibre of my being resented being in the office yesterday. Maybe I'm just enjoying weekends so much these days that it's like being on a mini holiday and the return to work is more traumatic. Anyway - doesn't matter now - I feel great today and ready to tackle anything. What a turnaround!

The weekend was OK. G was working on Saturday and forgot he had to stay late so we had to cancel our dinner plans. We had a lovely day on Sunday though. Walk in the woods, trip to the gym where we spent most of the time in the outdoor hot tub and after in the bar reading the papers. Then out for a heart-to-heart chat over pizza - lovely after 2 weeks without much time together. Did bugger all housework and chores but we had a great time. All over far too quickly.

More plans and discussions about the big trip. I really want to get on with finding some suitable boots as quickly as possible. I need to make sure they're going to be light-weight and comfortable enough for wearing a lot, but robust enough for trekking. I wish I could just take some good walking shoes, but I know if we do any steep stuff as we're intending I'll miss the ankle support. And I can't take both. I just know how hot I'm going to be in boots - and I don't mean in a sexy way… oh lord no, quite the opposite.

I've been trying to warn G he's going to have to get used to seeing me in my natural state. No make-up, infrequent opportunities to shave legs, etc. He doesn't seem bothered at all. I hope I find it liberating. Reckon I'll be sneaking in a small selection of multi-functional grooming items all the same...

1 in 78 million

New tv is lovely and sounds great. G and I are enjoying a West Wing marathon at the moment. I'm trying to persuade him to call me CJ, although whenever he tries it I always end up responding - yes Mr President? - and it just degenerates from there.

Really not much at all has happened this week. I'm trying to think of something to record other than how bone-chilling the easterly wind has been for the last couple of days.

G is working again tomorrow but we're going out for a nice dinner in the evening. Really looking forward to Sunday which will be our first mutual day off for a fortnight. Not sure what we're going to do yet, but I think it will include a large proportion of relaxation. Of course we could win the 100m jackpot tonight. Odds of 1 in 78 million actually make the UK national lottery seem like a good bet at 1 in 14 million.

I wonder how much I could spend on a beautiful country house and a herd of pygmy goats? G, on the other hand, is going to buy a battleship if he wins.

Lovely telly

Scrap that. G managed to locate one of the cheapo sonys at lunchtime. Hurrah!

Stupid telly

Feeling buoyant today and I'm not talking about my propensity to float. Not sure why really, just feeling in good health and excited about the future.

Decided to go and buy a new tv yesterday evening. I've been putting up with a cheapo one for the last four years, which works annoyingly well aside from the lose scart connection in the back which means I have to wedge the cable in and jiggle it around to get a picture every time there's a significant change in atmospheric pressure. Anyway, I don't want to spend much and don't want one of these fancy new-fangled flat things. Just a nice widescreen CRT will do me. Sainsburys and Currys are selling off an entry level Sony one so just decided to stop dallying and get one. Currys had sold out and when we got to Sainsbury's we were told they'd just sold the last one and no we couldn't have the display model. It would have been OK if we hadn't seen a gleeful bunch of blokes joking with the checkout girl and gazing lovingly at their newly purchased massive cardboard box full of spanking new telly on the way out.

I got over my disappointment pretty quickly though. I know I could probably find one somewhere else but I'm not sure I want one now. After all I've got a perfectly good one if you ignore the elastic bands and wedges holding the cables in place…

But if only we'd gone straight to Sainsburys! That would have been us laughing and joking and counting up the nectar points! Arrrrgggh. Stupid telly.

Anyway. More important things to save for and only a few months until there'll be no telly at all for a while! I really shouldn't be accumulating more things.

Talking to the animals

Black-tie work do in Southampton on Thursday. It wasn't great and I didn't enjoy myself nearly as much as at the Christmas party, but I overheard a few things that made me realise it is definitely time I moved on. It was nothing serious, quite complimentary in fact. Just a couple of off hand comments about expectations that I would use the job as a stepping stone onto something more prestigious when I started. I never had any intention to do that and if anything, the job has shown me over the last 3 years that I could and would never want to do a supposedly more high profile role in a technology company. I have a huge amount of affection for the place I work now, but as a whole the industry is just not me.

It's not like I have a great plan for what to do when I get back, but I have a strong feeling that part of the adventure will reveal itself in time.

Although the whole 'event' was meant to be a perk, I couldn't help seeing it as a waste of my personal time. However, Friday was designated a day off. What a treat! Senior execs obviously didn't fancy being forced back into their cars still half-cut from the night before on Friday morning.

Probably on my suggestions it has to be said, a small group of us decided to go to Marwell Zoo on the way home. I had a fab time. I'm no expert, but it seemed a really good place doing a lot for conservation. The giraffes were amazing - they were all inside feeding and were quite happy to come over and sniff us out. I even managed to stroke the youngest one on the nose and we shared a lovely blinky exchange. Perfect hangover cure.

Focus

G and I have been busy planning and generally wrestling the new year under control over the last couple of weeks. Money, house, new tenants, mid to long term plans. There have been lots of discussions and a few decisive actions. I'm not sure why I haven't felt like recording things much since my last posting, but it feels as if we're getting somewhere now and that I need to recap.

We went to the Adventure Travel show at Olympia last weekend. It was OKish - plenty of tour operators looking for business -and a few interesting talks and stalls. The main purpose of the visit was to get us thinking about travel again and focused on the trip. It kick-started us into working on all the administrative and logistic tasks we need to get through to get away.

We still haven't made any firm decisions about our itinerary, but have decided we need to simplify plans and accept that we can't do everything we might want to. After contemplating a trip taking in more remote, extreme places, an easier route around the world suddenly seems achievable. I'm a lot more confident it's going to happen.

Mission accomplished

I have gone from feeling utterly useless at the beginning of this week, to being quite productive and chipper, and now I feel generally grumpy with the world. Last week was exhausting, but we achieved (most of) what we set out to do. G's house is looking sparkly and lovely top to bottom. Bad weather and lack of time meant we didn't manage to do much to the exterior of the property, but that's more a job for the spring.

Inside looks great. Each room has had a good scrub, remedial renovation and a fresh coat of paint. Mum and Dad were amazing. Dad for his technical prowess, boxing-in capabilities and ability to polyfiller like a pro. Mum was exceptional. She worked hard cleaning, prepping and painting, cooked us lovely food, was full of good ideas and generally kept us going. What a motivator. I don't think we would have finished without her. She also cleared the back yard and made it look like a lovely little garden - even though it was snowing - and she polished the beam running through the downstairs rooms with antique wax and touched up the metal work leaving it looking like a splendid period feature. I would have overlooked all that stuff, but she made a real difference.

I think she enjoyed having us close by and being able to pop in the car and drive over whenever she felt like it. I certainly enjoyed living there for the week. I grew quite attached to the place the more blood, sweat and tears that went into the work. Who knows, maybe we'll end up there at some point in the future. Anyway, plenty of people came to look round while we were working on the place and a nice young couple put down a deposit last week. Job done.

My shoulder has been very sore since we got back, but a good rub with ibuprofen gel and a couple of good sleeps on a proper mattress seems to have sorted it out. And ceasing all the repetitive rollering/paint brush action must have helped a little… I do feel very run down though. I have developed sore red patches under my eyes - almost eczema-like - and have a lumpy spot on my cheek that has failed to come to a head but also refuses to budge. I did live off chips and chocolate last week though, so it's not really surprising. Back on the healthy living plan this week. Well. Soon perhaps :-)