I had such a great day yesterday, although probably used up all my month’s social life credits in one go.

I dropped my daughter at nursery – it was ‘Yellow Day’, so she had to dress in yellow. Her only yellow item is a summer party dress, so she was crammed into a net petticoated number with as many long sleeved t-shirts as I could squeeze on underneath. It’s so not sleeveless dress weather. This was teamed with her brown leather winter boots, so I like to think she was channelling a boho Kate-Moss-at-Glastonbury type look.

Then, great excitement, Wednesday is her full day at nursery, so I have an entire 6 hours to myself. Of course I should have been working on my second book, or my website, or my blog, but instead I whizzed off to the station, and into town on the Tube. I popped up at Oxford Circus, facing Portland Place, and felt the heady rush of exhilaration that being in the centre of London, however mundanely, always gives me. I wondered, when I moved to London and started the daily grind of commuting, whether my love affair with London would grow stale, but it never has. Now, when I’m out in the wilds of Zone 3 for most of the time, our reunions are more passionate than ever.

I walked up a couple of blocks to Margaret Street to give blood at the West End Donor Centre. It’s the first time I’ve managed to donate for 4 years, which is a bit guilt-inducing, but it’s such a great experience. Seriously. If you can’t afford a spa day, then giving blood just might be a close second. You go in to a lovely warm, calm environment and sit in a comfy seat with a cold drink. You have a health questionnaire, and the iron levels of your blood checked (v beneficial health check – low iron levels are a very common cause of chronic tiredness amongst women of childbearing age). Then you lie down on a lovely soft couch and have a blissful half hour either alone with your thoughts, or, in my case, with my Kindle. Afterwards you get an at-seat service of more drinks and a tasty snack. All the staff are incredibly friendly and welcoming, and you get the small glow that you might just have helped save a life, which a trip to The Sanctuary never gives you. What’s not to like?

After the blood donation I popped off to Covent Garden to meet my friend R for lunch in Le Pain Quotidien. Delicious limeade and vegetarian mezze, and lots of life enhancing, mood boosting baby chat as R is expecting her first child any time now.

Rushed back to Walthamtow to collect Anna from nursery. Home for hot chocolate for two and an exchange of news about our days, then rustled up a Bolognese sauce and vegged out in front of a couple of episodes of Charlie and Lola.

Then after A was tucked up in bed and husband arrived home, I went out. Again! Oh yes, I kid you not. For the second time in a day, and after dark no less, I was off for a social engagement. This time it was for a fabulous 2.5 hour catch up with a very good friend who lives a couple of miles away but who I haven’t seen for months, mainly due to our children’s annoying habit of being ill frequently, and consecutively, but never simultaneously. Eventually we gave up trying to involve the kids, informed our husbands they were on babysitting duty, and threw caution to the winds with a 2 for 1 Orange Wednesdays deal at Pizza Express. Irresponsible party animals that we are.

So, a lovely, lovely day to brighten up a cold, dark and rather depressing January.