Ow. Another hangover, second in a row. Drank a load of wine and ate a lot of really yummy game meat, like pigeon and wild boar. Plus bread pudding made with brioche and baclava... I nearly killed myself with overeating.

Stayed over at M&A's but woke at about 10am to run back to Frome so as to let the dog out and get ready for another social engagement today. Robin and Alison from a few doors down invited me over to their house for drinks on New Year's Day. Oh well I thought, hair of the dog won't do any harm.

Six hours later after talking myself silly and drinking a buttload of champagne and beer, I'm back home surfing the internet and trying to sober up enough to do the things I had planned for this evening. Not much luck. Decided I'd best watch a movie and sleep it off. Got a busy day tomorrow, picking up the kids from the M5 where I left them on the 28th and much later on picking up Mia from Bristol Airport.

Ahhhh. Nearly got to the end of my Home Alone break, and it's been wonderful. Okay I'll qualify that, I love Mia and I love the kids, but being without them for a while has really been good for my head. Just having the space to think and relax without interruption for a few days has been invaluable. Okay so I wasted a lot of time doing nothing in particular. But as a friend of mine said before Christmas, I can't think of a better way to spend time than to waste it.