So it is the last day of October and we have come to the end of our personal challenge - we have used the pool come rain or shine.  It has been an exhilarating experience and I know people think we are mad but afterwards you feel brilliant.  It was good to see the sun shining again this morning although the weather is still unsettled and decidedly cool.

We were to pick up The Pug today and having lent Di and Rob little Kenny Kembara we had been rather more confined to barracks than we would normally be so we had not done a shop.  I scoured the back of the fridge and the back of the freezer and grabbed what I could to make sure we had something to eat when we returned from pickleball.

We were to have a spicy sausage casserole with some mashed potato and I could hardly wait to sample it as it smelt fabulous and made me keen to do a bit of a cook-in to restock the freezer for situations like this.

Our lives were made complete when we popped into the Smart Shop on Mesoghi Avenue to find one of our favourite wines on sale for only €4.60 - €4.60  is nothing and if  you haven't tried a wine made with the Carmenere gape then give it a go.  This wine from Chile was actually cheaper than our local favourites Agios Onoufrious or Agios Efraim.  We grabbed a couple of bottles and then hot-footed it home to batten down the hatches, empty the slow cooker and then settle down for some more Utopia.

Good news we had a prospective newbie come to pickleball to check us out and hopefully will fill the gap we have on a Thursday afternoon.  One minute we seem to have a full house and then next people are having to drop out!  Blow me if I didn't get another enquiry this evening from a shout out I put out for some new players.

John put himself through the pain of watching the mid-week match of QPR v SUFC.  Apparently SUFC were woeful and that was the polite version.  Still top of the table but probably not for long.