My mum always used to say at the end of the school holidays we were back to 'old clothes and porridge' which was her anglified version of the Scottish expression 'auld claes 'n' parrtich'.

So today is just that.  Back at my desk after two very relaxed weeks, good boundary ,and recharging my introverted batteries.

I have had a truly wonderful holiday, all by myself, apart from two visits to friends for meals.  I have eaten way too much, exercised way to little, been to the cinema and the theatre (panto), made jigsaws, tidied rooms, got up late (by my standards) listened to audio books, snuggled with kitties, taken very few trains (and only for leisure) and almost detached myself from thinking about work,

Now it's back to work, and a lot to do in a full first week back at the desk.  Looking forward to what the days ahead bring... and replete with posh porridge as illustrated above!

In 2019 I started using Duolingo to brush up my French ahead of an overseas mission trip with out teenagers we had planned for 2020... it never happened as the world changed, but I plodded on, adding in a smattering of Greek, Gaelic and German as well as a few months of Welsh, and a hurtle through the 'math' (arithmetic).  Now, having kept on almost everyday and completing 2000 active days, I have cancelled my subscription and am going to look for a new challenge going forward.  I'm not sure what yet - a break from the relentless daily translation of useless sentences is definitely in order.