Spent most of the last week in Italy. On Monday, we flew to Pisa (at a very civilised 10.50 am – a good time to fly: no need to get up insanely early, but still giving you time to enjoy in your destination) and, after a long, wet late autumn/early winter it was an absolute delight to step out into the Tuscan sunshine. I shan’t repeat everything here – visit the Hap-pea travels blog to read more about it https://hap-pea-travels.co.uk/italy/tuscany-and-no-tinsel-day-1/ – but it was a wonderful five days away, enjoying some better weather (other than one morning when we went to Pistoia – a bit higher up, and found ourselves in cold, damp, low cloud all morning) we had warm sunny days, with chilly mornings and evenings, lovely food, culture and style. Italy has won me over – my faltering learning of the language continues, and whilst away, we booked our flights for October ’26: originally we were going to fly to Malaga and stay in Grenada and Antequera, but after one day in Italy the flights opened, my head had been turned and we’ve booked a week in Bari instead.
Returning on Friday evening, we have enjoyed a rare couple of dry days at home. Yesterday I went out for a 6K run, today I refereed Ashcott U16s. I end the year felling fitter than I have done in a long time. Today, I also gave the lawn a quick mow – there is quite a lot to do in the garden, but everything is just so wet, its not very enticing to go outside even when its not raining. What a good job it was to have four sunny days in Italy!