01 Jan 2017_1

Could you wait a moment? I need to get myself a small liqueur – I learnt to spell liqueur! Typing and learning. This supports my view that it’s writing that improves the vocab -give me a second vocabulary – and not reading. Not for me anyway……………Now that I have some Minttu 50% in a glass, I trust you’re sitting comfortably.

January is a terrible time to start the new year. If I had my way, I’d start it on the 1st July. My reasons for this are many, but I will keep this list short:

1. This is a crappy time of year. If January 1st was the half-way point in the year, we’d push through it.
2. It’s dark outside, and we’d be better off at work than being at home eating and drinking too much. The health of the nation could be improved.
3. We could stop telling children about Santa Claus.
4. Fireworks on New Years day would be pointless.
5. There would be less need for New Years resolutions, because we’ll have not over indulged so much over the festive season.

I appreciate that this is getting Christmas and New Years mixed up, so pick and choose as you like. The idea of having Christmas and New Years six months apart, appeals to me. It would be much better to have a decent gap between these big days. This is not an attack on Christmas! If you really think Jesus was born on Dec 25th before the Gregorian calendar was created, go for it. Facts aren’t really that important to you anyway.

As 2017 gets in to full flow, all we can do is sit back and enjoy the stories unfold on the news. Political lines have become blurred, and families who may have all voted one way can become divided. We may even find things out about people that we never knew and don’t like. And innocent people will die at the hands of terrorists. How very vague that is.

What I want this year is facts. How many people died this year compared to last year, what kind of person killed them, or what killed them. Just a running total on a website so we can compare 2017 with the preceding years. Although, thinking about it, this might become a target for nutcases. In which case, just tell me. That way I can decide whether to feel happy of sad about 2017.