Well, hello 2026 and Bonne année et bonne santé à tous! We shall not speak of the one just passed but look forward instead to what, I hope for all of us, will be a bloody good year. After all, February will mark something rather significant for some of us – the Year of the Fire Horse no less, an event that only comes round every 60 years. Ah yes, THAT birthday. Best not dwell too much on that but rather the appearance of the Wolf Moon this weekend which, if you’re like me and believes in that sort of stuff, is connected with renewal and transformation. A more preferable thought for the beginning of the next 12 months I feel.

I’ve said it before but as I’m one to repeat myself I’m told (repeatedly), I’m not going to lay down New Year resolutions. Having said that, I did have a good talk to my inner self as well as a kick up the butt. It’s time to get out of all that ‘poor me’ malarky and stop expecting others to sort my life out. I’ve lists aplenty and appointments in the diary, admittedly most of the latter are to do with vets or doctors but I have had a tendency to put things off in the past. It’s not that I’m feeling ill or anything but my eyeballs haven’t had a check up in five years so my specs aren’t doing what they used to do and there is, of course, the dreaded annual trip to the dentist. One I hope will be just that, annual, ’cause these gnashers are expensive. I suppose I ought to go and visit the GP as well, I’ve lost a few kilos over the Christmas period but I think that’s more down to shivering than pneumonia due to the absence of heating. With any luck, the necessary doodad will be with us tomorrow morning and Max chauffagiste will be able to revive my frozen tootsies. And as mentioned, there’s the vet appointment for Arry (as usual) to restart his physio – the anti-inflammatories for his arthritic spine do tend to make him forget that he’s a bit wobbly in the back end so he needs some muscle therapy. Thankfully, he does like the coat I bought him; I know he’s a German Shepherd but he’s a ‘getting old’ one and personally I think he looks rather suave even if he’s never been sophisticated.

At least, the rain has stopped even if it’s still tundra temperatures outside (and in). We haven’t had any snow as yet, something Denis seems to want, why? but blue skies and sunshine to start the year off can’t be all bad. Makes one want to get busy. I’ve started dismantling the sapins and putting all the baubles back in their boxes. My flurry of activity has got some raised eyebrows from the locals however, in these parts one doesn’t tear down the tinsel until the end of January but I don’t see the point of hanging on to what’s been and gone and the fairy lights need time to re-tangle themselves before their next outing. I have however consented to leaving the corner wall display up for the moment, D says the village have to have something cheery to look at although one of the reindeers got so soggy it’s now bent over backwards and the fake snow has been reduced to a few blotches here and there. Mind you, since it will no doubt be the last of my seasonal spectaculars up there, I’m happy to observe such village customs – we’ve a new year ahead, things to do and places to be my friends…

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves” (William Shakespeare)