Another month comes to an end. And once again, it's not easy for me to come up with a clear summary. As in the last few months, there have been constant ups and downs, although of course I can do without the periods when things are going downhill. But luckily I still manage to distract myself and keep my spirits up as much as possible.

And at least in the first half of the month, the weather helped me do that quite often. Until then, autumn had shown us its more pleasant side and we were treated to extremely mild temperatures and lots of sunshine. You could almost have forgotten that we are actually in November and that for many people this month is one of the more unpleasant ones. I also used to have this attitude, but here in the land of the rising sun, in terms of the seasons, everything seems to happen a little slower. Last summer dragged on well into September and autumn seemed to have a lot of trouble finally getting going. However, it is still holding out at a fairly decent level and will hopefully take a little longer until it finally gives way to the cold season of winter.

Temperatures have already dropped considerably in the last few days and sometimes it has been quite wet and stormy. So we've already had our first taste of what's to come, and the outlook is relatively gray and gloomy. But perhaps autumn will hold out a little longer and treat itself and us to a little extra time.

As usual at this time of year, the people around me are now showing the first signs of a breakdown. The season of viruses and the associated infections has begun and us too, at home, are seeing the first symptoms and outbreaks. As usual, I can't really allow myself to join in and every day I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get through this difficult time reasonably unscathed. My health has been anything but good over the last few months, but at least I'm somehow managing to function and get on with my work. And that's exactly how I want it to continue.

And actually, at the end of this month we were planning to treat ourselves to a little special treat, but now we're wondering what will happen next and whether we'll actually be able to do so. As usual, we probably won't know until the very last minute whether we'll really manage to escape the daily grind and get away from home for a short while

At the moment, all we can do here is again just to keep our fingers crossed. I don't really dare to believe that we can at least get through to the end of this week unscathed and unharmed. But I'm willing to let myself be surprised and just take each day as it comes. And I continue to show a little smile, which should help me to deal with any inconveniences that come my way. I suppose this is another case of hope dying last...