Happy New Year

I needn't have worried about my big family Christmas, it turned out to be great. Among my favourite gifts were an amazing seasonal suit, my new favourite cardigan, and an incredibly apposite T-shirt.

I met my pseudo-nieces (step-neices? Nieces-in-law?) and they were charming.

My oldest niece got absolutely lashed up on Christmas eve. In a large and well appointed kitchen the most suitable thing that she could find to drink water out of was the blender. She woke up with the blender (half full of water) beside her bed.

My sister's melancholy reminiscence about lost innocence: "I remember being that age and all you had to worry about was horses and homework. Then you discover cider and lipstick."

My oldest brother's transformation into a pirate continues. He ran away to sea a couple of years ago and he's now crew (and chief engineer) on a tall ship. The last time I saw him he had a big beard and a salty tan and he had taken (un-ironically) to drinking rum. This time he had got involved in a bar-fight in Rotterdam.

Richard "Bah! Humbug!" B