<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">It&rsquo;s the threshold of another new year and here I am eagerly anticipating goodness knows what!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">I don&rsquo;t know about the rest of the world, but I always have this feeling that the New Year will be special, different from all the rest and a turning point in my life!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;m not sure why this is as usually it begins with someone dying.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>It&rsquo;s uncanny how many people I know pass over during the first few days of a new year.<span>&nbsp; </span>This time around it seems to have started early with my uncle moving on during the middle of December and our local MP, who I knew quite well, departing unexpectedly on Boxing Day.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">I also have this habit of making New Year resolutions which are not entirely unrealistic. This means I can never find any excuse not to keep to them!<span>&nbsp; </span>Last year I persuaded three friends to collaborate on a multimedia project consisting of original music, poetry, story telling and photography for which I resolved to secure an Arts Festival grant to enable us to put on a public showing.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">This proved to be one of those cases of being careful what you wish for!<span>&nbsp; </span>We got the grant and spent months grappling with software we didn&rsquo;t understand and trying not to fall out with each other over what to edit and what to leave alone!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Somehow we managed to remain friends and Johanne with the long hair proved to be one of the Festival&rsquo;s main successes, although I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;ve paid the price with extra wrinkles and a few white hairs!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">A resolution that proved less fraught, but no less frustrating was my continued determination to sing without fear of neighbourly reprisals! <span>&nbsp;</span>Progress so far, has been moderate!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Probably through pity or perhaps as a hopeful diversion, Nearest and Dearest gave me a melodeon for Christmas and expects me to be proficient by the end of the week!<span>&nbsp; </span>I think he may have to lower the bar somewhat as I can only just play the first line of Baa-baa-black Sheep.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">I am still embroiled in a love-hate relationship with running and am getting quite good at finding legitimate reasons for not doing it!<span>&nbsp; </span>Unfortunately I tend to pay the price when I&rsquo;m persuaded to enter the Club&rsquo;s cross-country races.<span>&nbsp; </span>There is one coming up very shortly which I can&rsquo;t bear to think about!<span>&nbsp; </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Instead here&rsquo;s another photo of the best thing to happen in 2009, mine and N &amp; D&rsquo;s pride and joy, our little granddaughter, Annikins.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p>

<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;m getting my New Year greetings in early before the celebrations get under way!<span>&nbsp; </span>Not that I&rsquo;m a great party goer, well I am actually depending of course on who is throwing the party!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Tinned fruit and flaccid lettuce with the in-laws followed by a million hands of whist isn&rsquo;t my idea of fun so I&rsquo;m not getting excited over that.<span>&nbsp; </span>I can just about put up with the catering, but whist as played by my in-laws is deadly serious and involves, shock horror &hellip; money!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">It might not be a Rothchild fortune, but as far as they are concerned, it is a deadly game of ruthlessness and obsession!<span>&nbsp; </span>They have played so long that they have an almost psychic comprehension of every players&rsquo; hand including the unused cards in the pack!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">This results in an aggressive interrogation as to why you led with the Jack of Hearts when you knew full well the Queen and King were both in play.<span>&nbsp; </span>(Did I?).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Somewhat more jovial is tomorrow&rsquo;s lunch with my aged aunts.<span>&nbsp; </span>There are three of them all of which like a less than discreet tipple or three!<span>&nbsp; </span>Rightly or wrongly I&rsquo;m taking them late Christmas presents of brandy which I strongly suspect will be gone before the New Year is more than a few hours old!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">The eldest aunt is 84 and buys her clothes from Top Shop and Dorothy Perkins.<span>&nbsp; </span>She has a snazzy hair cut and the airs of royalty.<span>&nbsp; </span>Aunty no 2 renovates sea side slums and after a couple of hours in her company you need to lie down in a darkened room with a cold flannel across your eyes as she hovers perpetually on the edge of a nervous breakdown.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">The youngest aunt is currently suffering from a bad knee which makes walking difficult.<span>&nbsp; </span>This doesn&rsquo;t prevent her from being unfailingly good humoured and she can happily regale you with umpteen stories of the geriatrics she cares for.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Hopefully the old year will go out with a bang when we gather with various friends for end of year celebrations.<span>&nbsp; </span>As we are all either writers or musicians or both the evening will be a good mix of song, dance and poetry with a good clash of egos to add a bit of spice to the mix!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">We&rsquo;ll do the usual resolution thing and perhaps discuss our new plans for the year.<span>&nbsp; </span>For some there will indeed be new starts, for others it will be more of the same.<span>&nbsp; </span>I will definitely be in the first group!</span></p>

<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">The great thing about reading other people&rsquo;s New Year resolution failures is the smug feeling of triumph you feel when you realise that you haven&rsquo;t fallen at the same hurdles they have &hellip; or have you?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Take eating healthily for instance.<span>&nbsp; </span>I pride myself on being pretty accomplished in the kitchen and can easily knock up a balanced meal of proteins and carbohydrates together with all the necessary vitamins to keep us bright eyed and bushy tailed, so how come we haven&rsquo;t had so much as a leaf of fresh lettuce in the house since boxing day?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Hibernation, that&rsquo;s why!<span>&nbsp; </span>Nearest &amp; Dearest and I are pretty much workaholics except for that hiatus between Christmas and New Year when we more or less disappear from the world by sleeping late, (Ye gads almost to 9.00 a.m.) and then staying up to watch the dross on late night TV.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Apart from caring for the animals and the odd walk, we spend most of the time fiddling, (literally, N &amp; D plays the violin), eating the many permutations of left over turkey and reading in long, hot baths!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">As it is now over a week since Christmas Day, the culinary delights coming from our kitchen are extremely limited.<span>&nbsp; </span>We still have stale mince-pies, odds and ends of full fat, cholesterol boosting cheese and a shed load of chocolate!<span>&nbsp; </span>Puddings are mainly syrupy tinned fruit drenched in long-life cream and we&rsquo;ve a stack of carbo loaded, cheesy nibbles which I&rsquo;m grazing as I type!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">I have never smoked since the disastrous episode when I was five and my older cousins stole my uncle&rsquo;s Woodbines. <span>&nbsp;</span>I was violently sick in his grey hound kennel and a dropped match almost burnt the place down!<span>&nbsp; </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">I do run on a regular basis, or should I say did!<span>&nbsp; </span>The trainers are still kicked in a corner of the boiler room from the last cross country I ran at the beginning of December and I&rsquo;m quickly running out of excuses as to why I can&rsquo;t get them back on!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Everyone talks about change and resolutions at the start of a New Year, for me just getting back to normal is going to prove a tough cookie!</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size: small;">So it's another New Year's Eve and I'm writing this before our very select party starts in a couple of hours.&nbsp; It's select because this year we've only invited our closest friends who quite frankly are completely mad at the best of times but New Year's Eve seems to bring out the worst or perhaps its the best in them!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">A couple of year's ago, under their influence, I rashly volunteered to ride the London to Brighton bike ride which is over 50 miles long and ends with a lung busting hill.&nbsp; Given the fact that my bike skulks in the shed for 95% of the year this was no mean feat when considered in the cold light of dawn and necessitated several weeks of intensive but reluctant training!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Another New Year gave birth to a project that nearly turned me grey over night!&nbsp; Being very creative people and whilst under the influence of the ruby stuff, we hit upon the idea of writing a novel in a day!&nbsp; This eventually formed part of the local arts festival and involved a huge amount of editing and co-ordinating with the other 12 writers who took part!&nbsp; Never again!&nbsp; Some of them are still barely speaking to me and this was five years ago!<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Like child birth though, you soon forget the pain or in this case the aggrevation and the following year saw us making a multi-media version of a local folk tale which again formed part of the local arts festival.&nbsp; This project nearly drove me insane and almost had us ripping each others throats out! </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">This year, learning from the combustable nature of collaboration, we wisely decided to direct our efforts towards forming a specialist folk choir which so far is doing very well, probably because we're not using any of our own work!&nbsp; </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">My personal literary efforts peaked in June with the publication of my book, Lambs For The Freezer published by Crowood Press.&nbsp; I've no idea how well it is doing, but visually it looks great!&nbsp; I also had a short story published in an anthology of winners which was nice as I don't get to write much fiction at the moment.<br /></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">We're supposed to make resolutions on the brink of a New Year, but I'm not going to do that because I can't remember any that I've actually kept!&nbsp; What I am doing is making a few life style changes beginning with my farming activities.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">I've managed to convince Nearest and Dearest that pigs are a vital part of our farming life so very shortly he will be building pens and enclosures for our porkers which will hopefully provide the vittles for my 60th birthday bash in the summer!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">I'm actually 60 in February, but that's a rotten month for a birthday so I'm post-poning it in the hope of better weather so we can put the marquee up in the field and invite all and sundry.&nbsp; </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">I've also dyed my hair red which is the first time ever!&nbsp; Actually, Darling Daughter did it when she heard I wanted to dress up as a witch for a Halloween storytelling event.&nbsp; After she'd finished the bathroom looked like a slaughter house and the effects on my locks have still not worn off!&nbsp; It's quite amusing to see the sideways looks I get when people I know first see it!&nbsp; Most are too polite to say anything, but one friend who I was at school with had no such qualms ...</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">"what ya done to yer 'air?" she said.&nbsp; I'm pleased to say our local vernacular is alive and well!</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">With Jenny Joseph's poem in mind, I'm thinking about a purple streak when I hit the big 60.&nbsp; It's funny how liberating a bit of hair dye can be or maybe it just comes with age!</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Off for a soak now, hope the New Year is great one for everyone!</span></p>