10 months through the year – Project 365 October

Another month has literally flown by! And it certainly had its fair share of flying slotted in!! Although November is going to prove October to be a walk in the park in that regard…

The month started as I wish all months would, by putting on an ‘out of office’ email reply and leaving for holiday!  This time to Greece – what a wonderful time we had! Perfect weather for exploring and in the shoulder season so not too busy either!  We stayed at a real gem of a hotel on behalf of The Lux Traveller and I think you would be hard pushed to find anywhere better in Greece (perhaps I am biased, but it was WONDERFUL)!!

1st – 9th October

A real sense of the holiday blues when we got home – as that was our last taste of warm weather for the year (although plenty different things to look forward to… Venice, Wales, Cambridgeshre, Cornwall).  On our return we had a quick trip down to Cornwall for a family funeral, a very sad day but many happy memories.  Normally we travel west along A-roads and curse the slow drivers, but leaving Reading at the end of the working day we revelled in the fast pace of the trip on the M4 and M5… Future trips may well now be based around me working in Reading followed by an evening commute!

A busy weekend followed – afternoon tea at the Connaught with my fabulous university friends and then on the Sunday the final race of the British Touring Car Championships at Brands Hatch.  Our driver Marc was rudely driven off the road by one of the other competitors after a blistering first race of overtaking – hard to be on the side of foul play.

10th -17th October

Next up was the crazy bit of my month – 24 hours in Washington DC.  Thank goodness for business class beds and sleep-enducing champagne…  But even so by the Friday of the week (2 days after I got home) I didn’t know if I was coming or going and resigned myself to being completely useless and underachieving for a day while jet lag caught up with me!  Waking up again by the end of the day, Mr P and I then spent the evening thinking about where we want to go next year… plenty of inspiration, but as yet no firm ideas!

18th-27th October

By the middle of October the trees were finally starting to look Autumnal, although the weather was still uncharacteristically warm!  Writing this in November, it is still warm enough to sit in the garden…!  At work I had an exciting week – a new blackberry (number 6 in 14 months… it isn’t my fault) and also a new headset for my landline, which actually works – I can answer the phone confidently knowing it will actually answer!

We had a weekend of fun with Mr P’s parents, they visited us and we of course kicked that off with fizz.  Mr P took his parents to see the Tower of London Poppies and I went to work (bit of a cheat photo for that day, but the poppies are so beautiful that they have to be shared).  Thankfully lunch at the Chewton Glen was on Saturday so I wasn’t at work – I remain amazed by the quality of the food for £25 for 3 courses, and the service is of course exemplary!  We also saw Chris Evans in the car park – but didn’t stop for a selfie!

28th-31st October

End of the month and the sun is still out from time to time – I had some meetings, so I thought I would drive around with the car roof down and make the most of the 20 degrees celsius, reminded me of summer!  I then has flu, for all of 6 hours – the strangest thing but thankfully work up spritely the next day!  The Poppy Appeal is launched in London and for once I was there, all the poorer for such and important course and remembrance.  This year there was a military band playing in Waterloo while we waited for trains – rousing military classics as well as some good pop songs!

End of the month and a Friday evening with my feet up planning November….