HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!

So here we are; a New Year beckoning. The Christmas goodwill and gift giving a memory buried deep in turkey carcasses, pine needles and torn wrapping paper. Tonight is PARTY NIGHT; a night for getting dressed up, slapping on the makeup, drunkenness, kissing of strangers.....a right old knees up to the strains of Auld Lang Syne. Of course we will have all made sure we have drunk the obligatory glass of milk (to line our stomachs) and of course we will all make sure that every few drinks we down a glass of water; no hangovers for us tomorrow eh!!! Sadly it won't be long before that small sensible voice of reason is drowned in the tide of merry making and laughter. I mean it's only one night isn't it?...........we can be sensible for the rest of the year! Yes tonight's the night when the door to the future opens and all the troubles of the past fade into obscurity as we don our rose tinted glasses. New Year the chance to be larger than life; the chance to kiss that handsome stranger on the stroke of midnight; the chance to be reckless as the old year closes. To be honest the real chance is that we will have such a hangover in the morning that we won't remember any of it anyway!!!!!

And there are the RESOLUTIONS to make.................probably the same ones that we didn't keep LAST year. Losing weight has to be top of the list for most of us. But can we honestly believe we can do that..........remember all that EXTRA food you bought for Christmas.....the obligatory "must haves"..........nuts, dates, mince pies, Christmas cake, chocolates, the spare Christmas pudding (just in case one wasn't enough), a yule log, the cheeses, the biscuits, every sort of spirit and liqueur on the market (so that no guest was left without their special tipple)..................well all that is STILL sitting in the cupboard because we were all too STUFFED after Christmas dinner to eat any of it.......and since then we've been living on turkey pie, turkey curry, turkey rissoles...........and on and on. To make matters worse they all have "use by" dates stamped on them........ALL before the end of January 2007 (bet they didn't have THAT problem in Dickensian England)...............do you really think there's any chance of dieting!!!!

Of course there's always the "GIVE UP SMOKING" resolution to fall back on. But do you really think that's going to be possible considering all the stress you're under at the moment. Things at home are pretty sticky aren't they???....it's going to take at least 6 months to make up with the wife......do you remember that row on Christmas Day.....the one that happened AFTER she opened her Christmas presents- the new iron and a non stick frying pan!!! The kids aren't happy with you either are they? No matter how hard you try 14 year olds are not going to fall for the "Santa didn't have enough time to make them" routine when they didn't get the latest Nintendo. Work's a bit dodgy too.....the boss is going to find out sometime who broke the photocopier at the Christmas party when they were trying to photocopy their bum. And what if the tea girl tells her rugby playing boyfriend who it was that ripped her blouse trying to have a quick grope behind the filing cabinets! You can't afford to loose your job now! You saw the size of that credit card statement the postman popped through your letter box. If you don't get that paid off by this time next year the wife will be lucky to get pair of rubber gloves for Christmas! NO chance of giving up smoking with that lot on your plate.

I guess you're going to have to fall back on the sanctimonious "I don't do resolutions" ploy.......unless you try "resolving not to make resolutions". Now that's an idea.

In fact the more I think about it..........Mick and I may stay in tonight. We will snuggle up in bed, find a nice romantic film to watch and breathe a sigh of relief that we've made it through another year.........................

OUR UNSUNG HEROES

I first started blogging in August of this year; my first blog Me, My Life, My Garden is still running now but I never thought that one day I would end up with THREE blogs. It soon became clear to me that there was more I wanted to record; things that didn't really belong on a blog about gardening and general life. So it was that "A Diary Of Unfortunate Events" was born.....this is the blog you are now reading........I renamed it a little while ago......just a whim on my part. Mick was first diagnosed with brain cancer some 14 months before my first blog was created so there is so much that has never been recorded. I did once, in the early days, type up a post "The First Days"............my.. it was a long one..........but it was typed in the days before I realised how temperamental Blogger can be; before I realised the benefit of saving to draft every few paragraphs............it was eaten by the Blogger Demon..........2 hours of work disappeared into cyberspace. I took it as an omen that perhaps the time was not right for those early days to go to print. Maybe one day I shall do it again.....who knows.

The reason I am mentioning all this is because there was an important event that took place that has never been acknowledged. This was the "Run For Life" that took place in July of this year; and so missed a blog posting. Lynn ran this in her Dad's name and I want to take this opportunity to remind her how proud we were of her when she completed the course. Leanne's friend Kim also ran for Mick. This was particularly moving because we don't even know her!; yet she put Mick's name along with her uncles on her t-shirt and ran for them both. So as this year is coming to a close soon I just want to say THANK YOU to both Lynn and Kim for all the training and effort they put in for Mick and hopefully some of the money they raised will go towards making sure that in the future my story and those like it will never need to be written again.

LYNN BEFORE THE RUN

LYNN REACHING THE FINISH LINE

KIM DOING HER RUN

KIM'S T-SHIRT

WHAT IF?

All is well with us today and rather than post myself I would like to redirect you to a posting made by Peter. I thank MileStones for telling me about this on TIME AND A WORD December 9th.

Just click on this link "WHAT IF ";

the rest is up to you.

CRY FREEDOM!

It had seemed liked ages since Mick and I actually stepped out into the outside world. I looked back through my blog and the last time was on the 17th of December; and that was only to pop over the local shops to get some eggs. Last night Manda asked if we fancied going out today as she too felt in need of some fresh air and exercise............well I jumped at the chance and we decided that today we would go into town. Luck was with us weatherwise; although it had rained during the night and was still very overcast it actually felt quite mild. That first gulp of fresh air did me the power of good....I think I may have even done a little skip!!!

I couldn't believe how empty the roads were.

I think this is the nearest we've been to town since the end of October!

Either this poster has been up for well over 20 years or it's NOT me!

Past the Monkey Puzzle tree......no monkeys though !
I love this giant snow globe; if we only had room for it. .....
This is a new market stall since we were in town last; signs painted while you wait!

A lovely sound of Pan Pipes in the air

Even in the town there was hardly anyone about. I had expected the place to be crowded with shoppers snapping up SALE bargains. I managed to pick up a couple of Christmas decorations for NEXT year at half price. No pictures of those..........you'll just have to keep visiting until next Christmas to see them!!! The best thing I bought was a fibre optic ornament similar to the white Christmas tree that had broken. The great thing is this is not just Christmas orientated so Mick will be able to enjoy it looking at it all year.

The photo doesn't really do it justice; but if you squint a bit and imagine the strands flickering and changing colour you'll get the idea!

We were really lucky and there was room on the bus so we didn't have to walk home.

And a beautiful sunset to finish the day off nicely.

CHILL OUT!

Mick and I having a "chill out" day today. The last couple of days have been full of so many lovely memories. The Christmas presents we received were wonderful; all chosen with so much care and thought.........I think we have enough "goodies" to keep us going until NEXT Christmas!

I was really glad we had company on Christmas Day; Mick had one of his very unresponsive days; he wasn't eating or drinking and hardly opened his eyes at all. It was very worrying; I know he has these days sometimes but I always wonder "is this the day when he slips into a coma or worse?" It helped so much having Manda and co round; I even managed to eat ALL my Christmas dinner despite my inward worries.........and we had lots of laughs and fun and tears (of joy). Most of all; despite his being so quiet I had my best Christmas present........Mick with me Christmas 2006.

Boxing Day Mick bounced back............he was awake and responsive ALL day......he ate and drank enough to make up for the day before......double helpings of dessert!!!...........and I'm happy to say he's been on good form all morning.

Well that's all I'm posting today.........there's a Sherlock Holmes PC game waiting to be played.....a Ruth Rendell DVD to be watched..........and a few new CDs to be listened too. Just the things for a chill out day!

A WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL DAY; GREAT PRESENTS; GREAT COMPANY; GREAT FOOD AND FULL OF LOVE.................too tired to say more.........JUST GOING TO CHILL OUT AND LISTEN TO ONE OF MY CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

A CHRISTMAS CARD FOR YOU