Hello!

A GOOD NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE FROM THE INMATES OF THE DOWER HOUSE!

There have been no New Year resolutions made in this house this year.
We elder statesmen know it’s a pointless waste of time to try and change the habits of a lifetime, and so we will have to continue to grin and bear our respective idiosyncrasies.

His Lordship and I have had a quiet New Year’s Day after the excesses of yesterday. It seemed to be an eating frenzy from lunch until supper not to mention the alcohol consumption over the same period.

After David and Luca left during the evening, we decided that it was really bedtime and would forego the pleasure of remaining bright eyed to see out the old year. The tremendous booming thud of the firework display a quarter of a mile down the road and on the dot of midnight, wakened me but it was all over in 10 minutes and sleep restored.

Our first foot (apart from me, who paid an early visit to the gym, and who doesn’t count) was a tall red head, not the swashbuckling black haired man of the myths. Still, beggars can’t be choosers, and at least our one came bearing croissants which is more acceptable than coal in a house with no fireplace.

We had our first walk of 2018 before being caught in a heavy shower. We had time to greet this alien, down from space for the Hogmanay festivities, but looking somewhat lost under his woolly bunnet .