After a lot of running around yesterday, hubby organised for the car changeover to happen today. I felt a little sad to be saying goodbye to Lily, she had been so reliable and a joy to drive for the three years I’d had her.

The new car is a silver Mazda3 diesel, that I’ve nicknamed “Sparta”. Took her for a short drive to introduce ourselves and she handled well.

I was doubly spoilt today because not only did we take delivery of my new car, friendly Thermomix dealer Dianne dropped by this afternoon with my new Thermomix – a wonderful kitchen appliance that does just about everything. We made a batch of vegetable stock this afternoon so Di could demonstrate all the safety features and tonight I will be using it to make a bacon and pumpkin risotto.