What's a flip-flop & bikini girl like me doing in a place like this?

I reckon the only nice thing about winter is getting to wear hats.

Oh, and rain storms.

But that's about it! 

(This photo was taken yesterday. I was pleasantly drunk here - we had dropped by a little restaurant for lunch and, in line with the generous hearts of Georgian people here in this lovely little country, the gentlemen at the table next to us insisted we share the love by sharing their wine. Boyfriend doesn't drink more than I don't - if that makes any sense at all - so I had to drink for both of us. Two glasses of wine catapulted me into the annoyingly giggly 'everything's hilarious' phase :-D Fun!)  

I've been raised in the desert (I guess we can't call my beautiful Dubai that but you know what I mean) and although I did spend some years of my life somewhere where there were 'proper' winters - snow and the works - some decades ago, I had a boyfriend, boyfriend had a car and winter wasn't as baffling as it is now.

Yes, baffling.

Like, umbrella etiquette. What do you do with a dripping wet umbrella when you enter a supermarket?

Do you carry it around as it pee-pees residual rain everywhere like an excitable puppy?

What if the little old lady behind you, who already has trouble walking on two kind-of-functioning legs, slips on the mini-puddles and falls??

And clothing.

Having lived in summer dress & flip-flop weather all year round, I don't know what to wear. I'm finding out you have to do the layer thingy and and all the other thingies too like hats, scarves, socks.

And do you even notice it takes ages to put all that stuff on? Oh, my precious minutes...

And shoes - not only do they have to be winter proof and water proof, but you also need to have a group of loving angels  around you, flapping their beautiful white wings, fervently praying for said shoes every step of the way, so you don't slip & fall, cracking your tooth, hip, head open!

When all I ever had to do was just slip into a single layer of clothing, grab cardigan and I was set.

The color of my toe-nails were public knowledge.

I don't care what people say, winter is a pain in the ass! 

But I'm willing to give it a try, to reset this relationship and see if we can get along this time around. 

After all, it's the perfect excuse to do the hot-chocolate & book thingy...

I'm off to buy some socks now so buh-bye :)  

<3