Tuesday the 8th of December

Yesterday evening I had my first horseriding lesson in 2 years . Ouch ouch ouch. I think I'll give up the idea of 2 hours a week for the time being! I'm really struggling to walk and my abs are killing me today. It looks like all the cycling I had done in London communiting to work did not help too much in the end! Perhaps I should have followed the advice of my local gym which kept texting / emailing / calling me to get me going again :)

I knew that moving would not be easy, and today I'm feeling pretty low. Being here on my own is very lonely. All my colleagues leave at 6pm on the dot, and I really miss the pub! In the UK colleagues would always invite new starters for a drink; I think it's a great way to get to know people. Certainly it worked in my previous workplace :) But here, the combination of missing Richard, not having any friends around, living in an empty flat and starting a new job is all a bit much. I feel like I'm on some kind of parallel universe isolated from all my friends. It's 6.24pm and the whole office is deserted... culture shock!

To kill time, I am planning a trip to my local supermarket, because it is still a novelty. Those of you who have been to a French 'hyper' before will know what I mean. They are huge, they sell lots and lots of yummy things, technology, books, decoration etc. (think along the lines of Waitrose/John Lewis ). My little town, Cernay, is already colonised by the Leclerc hypers. There's one for food, one for online shopping pick up, one for sport gear and another enormous one for DIY and decoration. Yet they are still building another one that will become one of the largest Leclerc in France; it will not only be HUGE supermarket but will also contain some kind of 'cultural center'.

I would usually complain against such things, however in my situation the presence of these big shops reassures me somehow. If they were not there, I would actually need to organise my weekly shopping; but having always lived in big cities I am completely unable to do so. And while I am so bored here it's nice to compensate with a little bit of compulsive shopping.

While I was typing these words, a nice lady from another department came to say hello; having moved from Paris recently herself, she understood the difficulties of relocating. It was such a nice thing to do, and already now I feel much better with plans for lunch later this week and the possibility of joining a weekly lunchtime gym session!