One of the things my trip to Wales last weekend reminded me is that how much more fun life is if you're a little bit sociable. It's something I know, but which I keep forgetting as I spend so much time at work with the wrong kind of people. So I'm going to work on it and get out and about more.

I finished work at 2pm and decided to go and visit my sister. She gave me a guided tour of the extension they're still trying to complete twelve months after they started it. It's looking fantastic so it will be worth the wait, and the kitchen is about the size of a football field! Then we had a cup of tea and pink cakes and gossiped whilst the kids ran round in circles. Then I got persuaded into playing Wii Golf, which I've played before but am rubbish at. So rubbish in fact that a 6 year old could beat me without really trying. Fun though!

This evening the sociability continued - I went to Lynn and met Trish & Janet in Pizza Express. The food was predictably good and it was fun to catch up with each other's gossip. Here's pudding:



We'd been talking about doing spontaneous or challenging things to help get me out of my rut, but when we thought about it we couldn't really come up with any ideas of things to do, except maybe turn up at an airport and just get on a random flight to anywhere. But we're not those kind of people so instead we spontaneously went to Tesco in Dereham. Rock 'n' roll!

Despite the fact that it's by far the biggest supermarket in the area and we spent nearly an hour in there we actually managed to buy very little. I got some tinfoil and a Cher CD. It was very disappointing, although it has to be said that the Cher CD is stunning! I'd forgotten how much I love the 80s soft rock Cher!

We had to amuse ourselves by dressing up as if we were going on a Hen Night:



Left to right: me, Trish, Janet. Janet isn't actually a midget, although it looks like she is.

I had a fun evening, lovely to see you both! xxx

I had quite a trying day and my first reaction was to come home and eat pizza in front of the TV. But I'd planned to go to the cinema and I'm determined to stop cancelling things when I have a shitty day at work. They will always be shitty days at work so there's a real danger I'd never go out again!

So I went to see Sunshine Cleaning, which I knew little about but which had been described as this year's Little Miss Sunshine. I think it's because some of the same people were involved, but it could just be that they both had 'sunshine' the title. Anyway, it was enough to persuade me that it would be a feel-good if slightly black comedy.

Well not quite. It's about two sisters whose lives are going nowhere who decide to set up a company to clean crime scenes. It all goes really well until one sister reverts to her old ways and things fall apart. One of them used to be a cheerleader but never lived up to her High School promise and is now just a single parent to a slightly mad child. Their mother died leaving their father to bring them up but it left a big whole in the family. Add to that an affair with a High School sweetheart, some shouting at trains, a one-armed shopkeeper and some blood and it's quirky, strange and more than a bit sad. So not really fee-good at all then.

Great cast though: Amy Adams, who was in that nun thing with Meryl Streep, who does vulnerable really well and has great hair; Emily Blunt, who was last in Young Victoria, who does mad quite well; but the special mention goes to Steve Zahn who plays one of the dumb characters he specialises in and looks particularly fine with his shirt off. Yummy!

Let's talk about men.

Two months ago I gave them up. Not for some big reason, just because I was bored of them. I'm sorry but men are essentially all the same and after a while I just get bored. It was also partly to do with the quality of them - whilst I'd had plenty of fun this year I hadn't met a single man with any spark.

And it's actually been fine. I've had a few offers and hadn't felt even remotely tempted to accept them. I simply wasn't interested. But then I started to have a really dull summer. And I mean really dull. When an omelette is the highlight of your day you know you're in trouble!

So this week when someone asked me if I fancied meeting I thought, "why not!" Of course this afternoon I wish I hadn't agreed to it. A day at work had left be feeling tired and dull, and I wasn't sure I could find the energy to be sociable.

But ever the trooper I did! I'd forgotten how much I enjoy kissing! He brought a decent bottle of red wine with him and was nice and chatty. And coupled - they've been together 15 years, the boyfriend is 12 years older, you know the rest... I feel pleasantly tired and my lips feel pleasingly sore from all that kissing, so I'm going to sleep a happy man. I guess that means I'm back in the game.

I had a bit of a revelation in Waitrose the other weekend. I'd had a busy day and decided I'd reward myself with some nice tea. By 'nice tea' I meant a ready meal, some over-priced chocolate and a strange beer. As I queued at the checkout I noticed that the man in front of me had bought vegetables, ingredients for tea, and then I realised it had never even crossed my mind to cook.

I was never a great cook, apart from cake and pudding, and sixteen years of living alone hasn't helped with that. Then I bought a microwave and that was the end of it - I became Mr Microwave Meal. Apart from the days when a microwave meal seemed like too much cooking when I'd have cake and beer for tea.

So it was time for a change. I took the microwave out of the kitchen and hid it in the shed. The original plan was that if I could manage without it for three months I'd get rid of it, but I think that might be reduced to one month. Then I ordered a cookery book: Delia Smith's One is Fun!

I would normally steer clear of things that accentuate singleness, not because I have a problem with it, but because they're often a bit sad. When I first moved into my house well-meaning people bought me things for one, which are just like normal things but smaller. It's kind of depressing.

But Delia is God! The introduction is particularly empowering. She begins by saying that she was partly inspired by someone she knew who used to eat fish fingers dipped in a jar of tartare sauce for tea, and having done that myself she instantly won me over! She also quotes a woman who said to her, "People on their own? All they want is a yoghurt." So Delia wants to get us cooking, and it worked!

I flicked through the book and thought I could make practically everything in it, so last night I started with cheese-crusted fish pie:



Better than a ready meal, even if I did end up washing everything in the kitchen!

Today I had omelette parmentier:



Tasty but honestly it's just a mess of egg!

So well done Delia, I'm cooking!

Wales was gorgeous!

As usual I stayed with Thom and his lovely dog, although this time his husband was away in Edinburgh being a thespian. When I got there on Friday we headed into Abergavenny for lunch, on the way stopping to look at a new house. I know it's not your usual tourist destination, but Thom is moving so we went for a nose round. Now I don't really like new houses and would never live in one because they're usually magnolia rabbit hutches, but this was stunning! Huge rooms! Gorgeous kitchen and bathrooms! Fantastic decorating! And gorgeous wallpaper:



The rest of the day was all about food really - lunch, cake, Indian for tea - it was lovely and I was instantly relaxed.

Saturday we headed to the coast, ending up in a place called Nash Point which had some amazing cliffs! But to see them properly you had to get down to the beach. Down a steep grass slope. In a pair of sandals. Inevitably I ended up on my arse but I learnt my lesson and clambered across the rocks barefoot.

It's really astonishing - the cliffs and the beach are made up of horizontal layers of rock. I'm sure I should know what this is but thanks to Mr Mansfield, the world's worst geography teacher, I'm none the wiser! It looks like an alien landscape, like the moon or something. It's astonishingly beautiful!



We climbed back up a more gentle slope, then stop for tea and a sandwich from a little kiosk on top of the cliff run by an old couple called Jim & Thelma, who were fabulous! Great sandwiches!

Next stop was the lighthouse. I love lighthouse's but have only ever been up one before - at Dungeness - so I could hardly pass up the opportunity to go up this one:



The views were great - I want to live in a lighthouse! Then we headed up the coast to Porthcawl in search of chips, but alas all we found was a car park full of men changing into wetsuits - heaven!

Sunday was a lazy day: walk with the dog, coffee in Abergavenny, lunch, then home in the sunshine. I had a gorgeous weekend, Wales didn't disappoint me! Lovely to see you Thom! xxx

The inevitable pictures are here:

wales august 2009