And a Happy New Year

 We returned to the UK in time for New Year, with a short chance to reflect before another set of celebrations. One of my reflections is that I'm really not very good at packing. It doesn't seem to matter much whether it's for a long holiday, a short break, or just an overnight at a friends place, I always seem to get it wrong. I will often stay over night at a friend's place to allow me to have a drink, it has become a standing joke that I always leave something behind, a toothbrush, a sock, or a sweater there always seems to be something.

Valletta Christmas Tree
Maltese Parliament building on the right
Burger King on the left 

Last year when we spent Christmas in Malta I took all the wrong clothes, I was expecting it to be much warmer so didn't have enough sweaters or a warm jacket with me, so I spent much of the week either too cold or too warm (in my UK overcoat!). This year I thought I would do better packing lots of sweaters, warm skirts and tights. Of course that meant that this year Malta enjoyed an unseasonable warm Christmas! I could really have done with some shorts and a light weight jacket. But this last trip I managed worse than just not anticipating the weather.

After unpacking I realised that instead of the two pairs of jeans I thought I had packed I had actually brought one pair of jeans and a pair of jeggings, hardly the end of the world, until I put on the jeggings and the zip broke, then when I put the jeans on instead, a small split opened up so neither were wearable. This ended up meaning that at least one of our expeditions to Valletta was spent looking for a new pair of jeans ~ yes Valletta does have a Marks & Spencer and yes I did buy a pair of their jeans. Even this was not the end of my inadequacy though. I also managed to forget to take a pair of proper shoes for Christmas day.

I had packed a nice pair of court shoes, then unpacked them so I could wear them the day before we flew off, but forgot to repack them afterwards ~ so I was faced with either wearing trainers for Christmas lunch or having to buy some more shoes. Once again I opted for the expensive option and bought some new shoes, they are lovely, but being new did manage to run up a small blister on my toe. I find it hard to believe that at the age of 64 I might ever learn to get any better at packing, but maybe that should be my new year's resolution ~ to learn to pack!