And a very Happy New Year

So here we are at New Year's Eve. It is the time for making resolutions. I resolve to catch more grubs. It is very straightforward when you are a chicken.  There are some pretty odd customs around the world to welcome in the New Year. In Spain they eat twelve grapes, one on each chime of the clock at midnight. It is meant to bring Good Luck. In Denmark they stand on a chair and jump off it at midnight. But more bizarrely, according to one dubious source, they save their plates through the year and then hurl them at the front door at 12. The more plates they can break, the more new friends they will meet in the New Year. And we have the tradition of 'First Footing'. A tall, handsome, dark-haired man knocks on the front door at midnight and he is carrying some coal, a loaf of bread, a bottle of whiskey and some salt. In he comes, puts the coal on the fire, hands out the food and drink and leaves by the back door. Now I think this is basically flawed. Firstly you have to find your tall, dark stranger which in the wilds of Wattlebury is pretty tricky. Then the fire has to be aglow. And say that nice Mr Lars Larsen, the Lecturer from Drongo's college, was celebrating in his house and Dad knocked on his door? (Note here: Dad is not that dark-haired any longer, not that tall and some may question his looks - but he is all we've got). This is all supposition of course as like as not Dad would have drunk the whiskey before he got to Mr Larsen's house.

So here is wishing you a very Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year and in the words of Mark Twain "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Gordon xxx