Monday is the new Sunday! →[More:]
Well, it is for me for the next few weeks.

Because of annual leave I have to take before the end of May, and two Bank Holidays, I'm not in the office on a Monday now until 2 June! After he'd agreed it, my manager got a bit arsey, as I work from home on Fridays, and said that, although he's agreed it for this block of leave, in the future I can't have a day's leave following on from a work-at-home day. This does not apply to anybody else in the team, btw.

So today I had a leisurely trawl through the morning papers online, with coffee, followed by the gym.

I worked out hard, 25 minutes warm-up on the treadmill, followed by a 45-minute upper body workout. The last set of reps in the last exercise using the heaviest weights was very, very hard, and I was doing that grunt thing ("Urrrrrgggghhhhh") that anyone who uses a weights room knows. So a couple of the guys working out started yelling encouragement. "Go on girl, you can do it!", and I did. It felt so good to push the boundary that little bit further.

Then I cooled down with a swim and a hot tub, as I watched all the elderly ladies in flowery swimming caps (one in a shower cap) doing water aerobics. Still in my swimsuit, I washed my hair, then slathered conditioner on it and went in the steam room for 10 minutes.

I came out of the steam room with a bright red face, but after I'd showered and dressed, I felt so clean and healthy.

Then a trip to Pets At Home to buy wild bird food (Robin Mix, black sunflower seed, dried insects, fat balls - I spoil those birds but I love to watch them.) All the bunnies, guineas and one degu were asleep. The other degu screamed at me and ran away and hid.

From there to Costco, where I strolled about and bought just one thing, a bathmat.

I just got home, had a snack and laundry is doing. This feels so much different from a 'work at home' day. On those days, even if I've finished all the work (sometimes working late the night before so I can have free time in the day) I still always feel as if I'm skiving off and will get caught. But because today was my own time, I could really take time to enjoy my leisure.

And a new series of Britain's Next Top Model starts tonight. Yay! They're usually much more badly behaved than the girls on ANTM.