No surprise

I'm sure it'll come as no surprise to anyone reading this, but we actually had a pretty good time out at my friend's place in the country.

She came and picked us up last night at about 7 pm, we spent a pleasant evening chatting and playing with their adorable 6-week-old kitten, Pantoufle, and we were all in bed early. I mean, no, the girls (C and L, and my friend's daughter A, who's the same age as C) went to sleep ridiculously late - as is often the case with sleepovers - but I was in bed earlier than I have been for months, even if I didn't actually sleep till midnight (which was still an improvement).

The only trouble with going to bed so early is that I woke up at 4.45 am and couldn't get back to sleep. I read for a (long) while and eventually got up at about 8 when I heard someone moving around.

After breakfast, the girls headed up to the pool (so, around 10 I guess) and probably didn't spend more than an hour or so out of it all day - they had a fabulous time!

I helped my friend get things ready, and chatted with the other (adult) guests. I'm never wholly comfortable in social situations in which I don't know people, but today was OK. Better than most. And my friend, S, is a considerate hostess who always makes you welcome.

It's all a lesson for me to stop being so negative because this was a good day, despite the thunderstorm late afternoon.

It was nice to get away for few hours, to be somewhere else (and somewhere else that is amazing - a huge, beautiful house, massive gardens, pool...), to be with other people. I know I should make more effort to get out and do stuff. This was fun and did us all good. I just have to find a way to continue in this way now.