These days I dream of:
- A job I love, I don't know doing what, but something else. Or maybe more training, more studying... Anyway, just something else.
- A little house all of my own which I can make into exactly what I want, top to bottom. A bit more space, an extra bedroom for family and friends, and doing all of the things I dream of doing - painting, putting in wooden floors, beautiful curtains and rugs, designing a bathroom and a kitchen just like I want them, work in the garden.
- Going back to Asia: sit on a beach in Thailand, visit the temples of Angkor again, eat beautiful seafood, see the Mekong river, walk around Luang Prabang and Vientiane...
- Travel to new places: Sweden, Kenya, South Africa, Turkey... The list goes on.
- Get into some sort of shape, start going to the gym.

The reality is:
- I am really losing my patience with my job. It was only meant to be temporary and it's becoming way too permanent; plus there are some definite clashes of personalities which make life oh so difficult. I try to see the positives (I've learnt a lot, in the practical sense; I've formed some pretty firm opinions on education generally, which I feel so very strongly about; etc.) but it's just getting too much. My mind feels like it's shrivelling down to a peanut. I feel trapped and undervalued. I just need something more, but nothing interesting is coming up, or maybe I'm scared of looking further afield, or going for something which pays less...
- Thinking about doing a law conversion course but doing absolutely nothing about it.
- Fretting about the mouldiness of our bedroom, having to live with all of the contents of said bedroom in the living room whilst they clean it out, arguing with the estate agent, generally feeling miserable about the fact that half of my clothes and handbags and other accessories stink of mould.
- Planning small trips for this summer: Italy for a week in July, possibly Sweden for a week in August (so at least I'm realising one of the dreams!).
- Feeling miserable I'm too weak-willed to actually go to the gym and lose the weight I've been slowly putting on for the last six months.

Anybody out there has a magic plan to make dreams and reality collide? I'd certainly be very grateful.