Resolution...

Well, here we are, at the fag-end of another year… and not a vintage year. 2020 won’t have to be anything very special, I reckon, to be an improvement on 2019. Trump in the White House, Boris in number 10… and the citizens of these two great nations actually voted for them in free and fair elections! My prediction - that we would never actually leave the EU - may finally have run out of road (though the story may yet have a few more twists and turns before we bid adieu to our European neighbours).

The problems that face the world in 2020 make my one and only resolution seem rather trivial: to get my book profitably into print. Nevertheless, it deals with an important subject (and, even after fifty books, that’s not something I’ve ever been able to say before). It’s had yet another edit. Now’s the time to see if there’s anyone else on God’s green earth who’d like to see it published between hard covers. I’m in the mood for some feedback… hopefully positive.

Licensed today: yacht and steamer on Windermere...

Medication...

Called in at the Howden Medical Centre this morning, to pick up my new prescription. Instead of treating the attacks of gout when they happen, I’ll be taking pills which will hopefully stop them happening at all. I’m a proper old geezer now; I’ll be able to excuse any lapse in behaviour by saying “I forgot to take my medication”.

An old lady at reception was asking how she could get back home from the medical centre. She couldn’t remember where she lived, so I gave her a lift. We drove around Howden until she recognised her apartment block. That’s my good deed for the day, and now the pub’s open…

Broad Leys...

Licensed during the 'end of year flurry'... which will hopefully continue for a couple more days: Broad Leys, the Arts & Crafts house, designed by Charles Voysey, overlooking Lake Windermere...

Tractor run...

Excitement in Asselby this morning, with about fifty old tractors setting off for a tractor run around the marshland villages, to raise money for the Air Ambulance service…

Santa...

In a county as flat as East Yorkshire, Santa accepts any opportunity to hone his abseiling technique...

Xmas...

Ah, Christmas... the time of year when we eat sprouts, bring trees indoors and feel our own shortcomings most keenly. By ignoring the crass commercial aspects, I try to remember the true spirit of Christmas: celebrating the birth of Santa Claus.

Ambleside... at Christmas...

Virgin birth...

An interesting article on the Guardian’s website today, about Christianity’s twin obsessions with sex and virginity. The Christian cult of virginity may be due to a mistranslation in an Old Testament prediction: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14). The Hebrew word ‘almah’, used here, can mean either ‘virgin’ or ‘young woman’ (the confusion might have arisen from the blithe assumption that a young woman would have been a virgin). It is just possible that one of the foundational beliefs of Christianity is no more than a slip of a transcriber’s pen.

Licensed today: kite-surfer and offshore windfarm at Redcar...