The last couple of weeks I’ve seen friends that I love so so much. I went to a glass fusing workshop to make Christmas decorations with one good friend, and sat in a pub eating chips for two hours with another while our girls made Christmas wreaths. I went to probably the best gig ever with friends (of which more another time). I sang in acapella harmony with friends at singing, laughed raucously at Mark Watson with a wonderful friend, and yesterday ate lunch, drank coffee and then ate cake while catching up with my oldest friend who I haven’t seen for two and a half years. We were going to see the sculptures but just looked at each other instead and it was wonderful. This morning I hope to see a friend who I haven’t seen for many years since our toddlers went their separate school ways, but now joyfully our teens have found each other again. So much to catch up on and hopefully a mince pie.

The pandemic has made me lazy and sad overall. More often than not I just cannot be arsed. To arrange things, or go out at all. I’m rubbish if I’ve been at work in the day. Rubbish if it’s dark. Sometimes I’m too sad to go out. Often I’m too tired. Sometimes I drive myself mad with the inertia and the fact I’m not making the most of life. But the last few weeks I have been doing so much more and I feel better and happier for it. I want to see more friends and do more things. There are still people I miss so terribly – I want to have plans a and b to see them so even if plan a may be scuppered I still get to look at their beautiful face.

Anyway there has been a bit of a theme that I’ve read and heard in the last few weeks. Various shows and encounters have been telling me to grab life and love it. So that’s the plan. I’m going to start with tidying the house so the photos of the beautiful Christmas tree don’t have washing hanging in the background. And there’s just my new handmade decorations to add once I’ve picked them up this morning. But I’m also going to spend some time thinking about what I want to do. Small things like what places do I want to go for winter walks. A trip to Matlock to go to a shop I’ve wanted to visit for ages. An attempt at honeycomb for the first time. Christmas tree bunting making. I know it’s not mind blowing but it’s actually quite a big steps for me to start planning properly and I’m quite excited.