I'm in love with my sleek black beauty

The other depressing thing about coming home is, of course, the nasty, cold weather.

Being in the sun for so long messes up your body. Mine was tricked into thinking it was summer already, so the shock of delving straight into winter was awful. Therefore, I found myself in bed holed up with a nasty cold for the first couple of days of arriving back on Irish turf.

I lay under my duvet, with the heat turned up full blast. I was surrounded by tissues, empty Lemsip packets and brown envelopes, feeling sorry for myself. And the worst thing was that I didn't even have the energy to take down my Christmas tree. Yes, my Christmas tree!

Decorations

You see, when I left Dublin for the Costa del Sol hurriedly in the New Year, the tree was still up, along with my crib, and all the cards and decorations. But now they just look silly.

Anyway, it wasn't all doom and gloom. I had a lot to look forward to, including a friend's engagement party, preparing my son's fourth birthday party and giving a lecture to MA students at Galway University.

However, without doubt, the thing I was looking forward to the most was getting the keys of my new car.

I've always driven clapped-out bangers in the past, not really giving a hoot about cars before. In fact I quite like hopping on trains and buses, I find them relaxing. And when a prospective date recently texted me a photo of his brand new Porsche, I found it funny. I presume he expected me to swoon over it or something!

But this time I decided to treat myself to a Jaguar. Yes, a sleek, black beauty. When I first got the keys in my hand I was ecstatic. I then hopped into the driver's seat immediately and took her for a spin around the area. It was the first time for me to drive an automatic and I couldn't believe how easy and smooth it was. I was in love. Now I understand why some people bang on and on about their cars.

Blondes

Up until now I'd always thought they were a bit pretentious. But, hey, I've been converted now.

Then I took my new love home and decided to park her. I thought I'd park her behind my old banger car in the garage as I haven't yet sold that car.

Now, I'd be the first to admit I'm not the world's best driver. In fact, I failed my test twice. But now that I was the owner of a Jaguar I was feeling more confident than ever. I decided to reverse my new baby. And I did. Straight into the back of my old car. So I damaged them both. Great.

Now the next thing on my to-do list is to remove my blonde highlights and go dark. Blondes can be seriously dumb!