It feels like such a long time ago, preparing for the Festive period, in December 2023.

All the planning of family events and purchasing gifts for loved ones and friends. We went to the theatre and attended outdoor parties where everyone would be in a joyful mood and there was a never-ending supply of festive food on offer wherever we went. 

December was such a happy month, and expensive, but it was the Festive season after all! We looked forward to a New Year approaching, 2024, wondering what it would bring. After the celebrations of Hogmanay and eating the left-overs from the traditional Christmas turkey, we left 2023 behind. (much like the celebrations of Thanksgiving Day in the USA)

Traditionally, January is the month where New Year resolutions are made, with all good intentions to curtail any bad habits and introduce new and positive lifestyle changes. Think of eating less, drinking much less and being more active.

January also has a habit of bringing about doom and gloom for many people, with dark mornings when you get up, and by the time you are coming back from work, the sky was still dark. Oh, for a wee bit of sunshine!

With the Bills piling up as the extravagance of Christmas spending becomes apparent, January becomes a tough month for positivity – remember the New Year resolutions?

Tough to keep to them, when we seek something to take our minds off reality. Chocolate bars and ice cream, or that bottle of Gold Medal Drambuie on the shelf look all the more enticing…the box of cigars from Cuba… just a little won’t do any harm I repeat to myself!

Yep, we have been here before many a year prior; you would think by now, after 40 years of resolutions, I would learn to be more strong-willed!

Thank goodness it is February!

I no longer have to think of January and I can get on with normality.  Now is the time to think more positively about the future.

Purposely trying to ignore the weather, while looking out at the garden and there are small shoots coming out of the hardy plants growing on the fence; little green leaves, which are a welcome sight. How well these plants have overcome the ice, snow and wintery winds which is admirable when you see how fragile they appear.

Soon there will be lots more plants and shrubs growing in the garden, as the old leaves disintegrate into the ground and new life takes over. The young lambs and calves will be seen in the fields around the country, and everyone has a spring in their step, as the mornings and the early evenings going to and from work, are lighter.

Oddly enough, as I type this letter, I feel a sense of having more energy and of having lots more to look forward to in the months ahead. It is amazing how the mind works.

On that subject, I shall end here and belatedly wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

Steve