To celelbrate the turn of the year we are doing nothing more than eating takeaway and drinking beer at home, and before you imagine that this is a complaint, it is quite the opposite. I have no desire whatsoever to go anywhere near a pub on NYE, and our local hostelries are likely to be stuffed with lots of folk that I am usually very keen to avoid and they will almost certainly have been drinking too much (probably blue WKD) and smoking too much, so why would I want to kiss them. Not on your nelly.

(Now, there is a much missed phrase from my youth - perhaps someone should start bringing these old bits of language back - you know like"for crying out loud" and "bloody hell" and "stone me", it would make a nice change from fuck and shit- it seems like something a heritage office should be looking into. All these historical and much loved parts of speech dissappearing under a welter of vulgarity and Americanisms..... Any other nominations? "Wally" as a term of disapprobation...."flipping heck" as an expression of surprise?)

The weather has certainly been changeable hasn't it - from worryingly mild to rather jolly cold indeed. I love cold weather and prefer cold to warm in general ( largely as, having no waist, I look much better in woolly jumpers and jeans than t-shirts, vests, shorts and sweat) but clearly there are limitations. Walking the dog this morning it took almost as long to dress for it as it did actually do the walk. gloves, two layers of fleece (what did we do before fleece?) scarf - then I had to take off the gloves twice to attach said dog to lead, and pick up treats for same. Dog meanwhile was looking mystified and a tad impatient. I explained to him that humans did not come equipped with fur and other bits and bobs and that didn't seem to help but then he always looks a bit mystified...
But this isn't really cold - last January I spent a couple of days in New York and that was REAL COLD - minus 15 during the day - so cold it was ........ well, you know, cold.... It was like putting your head inside a freezer and leaving it there for longer than is comfortable, or possibly lying on your back with your face covered in bags of icecubes. And jeans are not useful leg-wear in that kind of weather, the hair of your legs stands up and then becomes trapped in the lycra of your denim- I'm sure you are getting the picture? It's sort of like an ambulatory leg wax.
Cloud is pouring up towards us here from the hills so I am hoping for a bit of snow - it seems unfair that it is only the south and east that has had it so far - they always seem to get the best weather and its not faaaaiiirrr....
Reading back over the foregoing I wonder if it is possible that I am going a bit stir crazy with all this forced proximity and joviality. I'll go and take a pill and have a nice calming cup of tea, I don't want to scare anybody.