October

As months go, October is probably one of my least favourites. It really hasn't got much going for it: the holidays are over and there's not much to look forward to, the weather gets colder, the days get darker, Christmas is being foisted on us by every high street store before it's even Halloween, the fireworks start going on sale for all the anti-social low lifes to let off every night between now and 5th November, making our streets even more of a no-go area than they are already. My mood sinks so low that I end up comfort eating, getting fat, gaining weight, getting angry that I'm getting fat. And don't start me about work...

Anyway being the optimist I am, I'm trying to think of something good about October. Then I remembered that this is probably my favourite time of the year for clothes. I might have said on this blog before now that I love autumn fashion, and that's still the same. You can forget all the trendy designer shops - my favourite clothes shop is the magnificent Matalan. Good quality clothes at reasonable prices, you can't go wrong.

One of my major autumn/winter obsessions is boots. When you live in a country with a climate as utterly dire as this one, you can't have enough boots of course. On Saturday I headed for Matalan with my birthday money and bought not one but two new pairs of boots for the winter. One of them is a knee-high dark grey pair, the other is a mid-calf brown pair (pictured above). Today was like a winter's day, so I wore the brown pair to work, and they passed the test.

Last word on my birthday - I did very well this year...two pairs of boots, a new skirt, a Father Ted DVD box set, a crystal bracelet, two bottles of red wine and still some money left to spend. Result!