New Year

 Last week was the in-between week. As per normal I actually worked that week. It's always very productive because there is nobody around to disturb me. I can honestly say that what I achieved in those 3 quiet days would have taken me about 2 weeks normally.

On Saturday we were all ready for a group of son's friends to come and stay the night. They'd been planning it for weeks. Then suddenly I received a call from one of the parents. One of son's friend group tragically took their life just before Christmas.

I mean, what to say? It's every parents worst nightmare isn't it. You just don't think that it will happen. The friends all came over, but they were obviously shell shocked. They did manage to have some fun, but mainly they went out for a long walk so they could process what had happened together.

Son is coping ok at the moment, but this could change. I also think it will depend on how well his friends group cope. If another of them starts to struggle badly it will cause further ripples.

I'm not going to pour out my thoughts and feelings here. I know that is what a blog should be about. But basically I am on the periphery of this. The important people are the person who took their life, the parents and the friends. So I'm not going to steal their grief.

On New Year a friend came over and very unwillingly played a board game with us. I had purchased Mysterium specifically for New Year. To say the instructions were confusing is an understatement. In the end I found some YouTube videos and watched cleverer people than me explain the setup and how to play.

Total setup took me about 2 hours. There was no way anybody was going to get away without playing the game after that.

Once the game was set up I took down the Christmas decorations and lights - just leaving the Christmas Trees.

My family all enjoyed Mysterium and we'll play it again. It should be easier next time because we can hopefully remember the setup (if we don't leave it too long). However, friend absolutely hated the game and didn't mind pointing this out every 10 minutes!

Once the game ended we chatted for a while and then they left quite early. Probably a good thing because I was tired and stressed (Christmas has that effect on me). Then we watched Barbie (loved it) and it finished just in time for midnight. I was quite impressed with myself, I barely drank at all - basically I was too tired from the night before - the boys didn't go to bed until 02:00.

On New Years day I woke up surprisingly early. Keen to have a chance to sit down I went into action and took down the Christmas Trees and then went up to my study which has been a general dumping ground for presents and boxes and a huge amount of Christmas tut. It felt wonderful getting that back to 'ground zero' - a much more pleasant working environment.

I've also hidden 'the bone'. About 4 months ago I bought a huge bone for the dog to gnaw on. I thought his would keep her busy. However, it was obviously just too much for her and so she's buried it in a beanbag and every morning she goes to check it's still there. Well it isn't now. It's in a carrier bag on top of a wardrobe. If she hasn't noticed in a week I'll take it to the bin!

The other thing that's hit the bin are my walking shoes. I discovered they had a split in them when I was half way across a rather big puddle. They didn't even make it back into the house. I stood at the bottom of the drive, took them off and threw them in the rubbish. Then walked back to the house in my socks. Needless to say - this is what ended up being my present from my brother - he gave me an Amazon voucher that was exactly the right amount for a pair of walking shoes. Not my romantic dream, but useful none the less.

So that's Christmas and New Year over for another year. Let's hope that 2024 doesn't bring even more misery. Honestly since 2019 it's been one ghastly year after another. Things don't look like they are going to get any better. I think I'll just hide inside my shell and hope it all goes away.

That said, I need to be around for son. Let's hope 2024 isn't a bad year - especially with the news we had this week.

Watch this space.