The shortest day is here. All of social media is full of pictures and explanatory captions, as if it was a completely new phenomenon. Still, in a few weeks the change in the daylight will be suddenly noticeable and before we know it we'll, we'll be spinning towards the summer once again.

I didn't sleep well last night - tossed and turned, and woke every couple of hours. I threw in the towel at 6 am, got up, made a cup of tea and read some of my book.

Went for a shower and faffed around with skincare products and when I picked up my phone later, there were two messages. One from a friend in the village wanting to arrange a walk at lunchtime and one from my dearest friend saying she had badly injured her hand and was going for emergency surgery that day

Poignantly I then received two parcels from her - one was the Christmas presents I had been expecting but the other was a gorgeous Santa mug for my hot chocolate- a complete surprise.

I was very worried about her as it sounded bad, and as a former surgical ward nurse, my mind was going into overdrive (she is back home and doing ok. )

So a walk was a nice distraction. There are 3 of us who meet up randomly and walk around the villages. The other 2 ladies work from home and try and get out when they can. I am usually able to fit in most times. It was a good hike today and enjoyable chat on the way. - weather was lovely and we were warm by the end. The dog was exhausted when we got back, and I was pretty tired too. The lack of sleep catching up with me.

After lunch, I just kind of flopped on the couch, drank tea and chatted to the boy who's now off school. I lit the fire and then he put on some silly youtube videos where 3 grown men were ranking various celebrities into different categories. It was completely and utterly banal but quite amusing and it was just the level I was at, at that point.

Dinner was Spanish chickpeas, quinoa and salad, and I opened the chocolate bombs to christen my new mug.

Good to hear from my friend that she was home. Wish I wasn't so far away.

Hopefully i’ll sleep better tonight.