A Winter's Day

I think it was Monday that, for the first time, it actually felt like a Winter's day to me.  It wasn't that it was cold - so far, this Winter has been remarkably mild - but it was something about the light levels, (there's something quite unique about Winter sunshine, not just the fact that the sun is so low in the sky, but the 'thinness' and paleness of the light), the slight haze in the air and the way the skeletal limbs of the trees seemed to claw at the iron grey sky.  All of which came as a stark reminder that it is December and we're rushing headlong toward Christmas and the end of another year.  Christmas seems to have crept up on me this year and I feel totally unprepared.  Sure, I've done the present buying bit - principally for my great neices - but I haven't even started getting in supplies for my own Winterval celebrations. Of greater concern, though, is the fact that another year is slipping by, with so much still undone.  As ever, so many plans are unfulfilled.  Although, at least this year I've actually made a start on some of my projects.

To a certain extent I won't be sorry to see the back of this year: so much has gone wrong.  From having water pouring through my kitchen ceiling to the TV dying on me, via being stabbed by my old matress, a collapsing bed and flush button on the cistern disintegrating, it's been a trial.  I've had to replace so many major household items this year it sometimes feel like I'm living in a different house.  Then there's all the time I've had to spend on repairs after the hot water cylinder leaks and other damp problems, (the kitchen walls are still awaiting their repaint).  And that's just the house - I've had to spend an arm and a leg keeping the car on the road this year, too.  On top of all that, it's been an horrendous year at work.  At least I seem to have beaten the work-related stress I was suffering in the Autumn, though.  All-in-all, something of an Annus Horribilis.  Not that everything has been doom and gloom.  In a surprising (to me, at least) development, the podcasting seems finally to have found an audience.  Moreover, as I've posted earlier, I seem to have become some kind of much loved internet 'celebrity' (a very minor, Z-list one).  Most importantly, foe me at least, I seem to have gone some way to re-establishing an old friendship which I'd neglected for too long.  Hopefully I can make further progress with that next year.   But I'm getting ahead of myself: it's still this year and we've still got a good few more posts to go yet before we leave it.