January 2022

 We are one twelfth of the year down! 

The month kicked off with a very early morning flight from Bristol with the nightmare amount of paperwork required. At Nice airport we were met with shockingly long queues as they checked all the appropriate forms again. Still, we made it safely back to Monaco and freshened up for a lovely New Year’s Day lunch at the Beef Bar. That first glass of champagne was heavenly! 

The first week was strange. Husband was a contact case within hours of arriving at the office and spent the rest of the week working from home. Covid is still raging but this new variant Omicron is milder and mostly like having a cold. The girls also had a lot of cases at school so they were constantly being tested too but thankfully they haven’t been off school.

One major thing I didn’t mention last year was that I started flat hunting and found a lovely apartment. Unfortunately the second bedroom was way too small but we decided to bite the bullet and ask to end our lease a year early. The apartment is just getting too small as the girls get bigger. We got a reply the second week of January. No we couldn’t leave our apartment until December 2022. The following week a sign went up in the lobby announcing seven months of demolition and building works throughout the building plus - wait for it - the removal of the lift for FOUR months!!!! We live on the fifth floor!! To say I was livid is a huge understatement but mostly my anger was for the elderly on the top floor and our floor who will not be as free to come and go with no lift in the building. FOUR MONTHS!! Seriously?!?

Friday is half term and we have taken a deep breath and said we are going skiing. We will be careful but we also want to live our lives. The last pre Covid holiday we took was in St Anton and it feels right that we are hopefully marking the beginning of the end of this pandemic with a visit back. I will keep you posted!!