Inspired by Ellie over here, as I don't think she quite believed me when I suggested she provides such, I thought I'd [ poach / recycle / adapt / embellish - delete as applicable ] my comments from her latest post and see what if anything it amounted to. I've not put anything up since getting back to the UK for the seasonal merriments and I'm beginning to suspect that small band watching maybe feeling just a tad short-changed of late. As November and December paid testament, I'm not exactly short of words as a rule, but I must confess a general listlessness towards committing thoughts to my database.

Christmas has come, Christmas has gone. The usual events have played out much in the manner that could have been predicted. Too much money spent, too much food eaten, but remarkably well behaved with the demon drink (though I can account for the demolition of 6 bottles of pretty decent champers, though not all by myself I hasten to add). Everything I thought I wanted has duly arrived and more, though how the staggering pile of books that went on my Amazon list are going to make it back to KSA is anyone's guess.

In the interests of remaining on a sound financial footing, I have not dropped into Sounds Great and slapped the Egg Card onto this little beauty though I'm sorely tempted all the same.

Which neatly brings me onto where I started off over at Ellie's place and yet another puritanical demonstration of good behaviour in the face of the temptations of Beelzebub and all his little wizards - should you have a liking for such insanities...

AM and I were exceptionally well behaved last night. The pair of us pretty much chilled in front of our respective laptop and PC for the evening, she looking at houses, me buggering about with the intricacies of jQuery (I live the wild life me...). Our one bottle of wine with our evening meal wasn't going down well at all on my part, its compatibility with my assorted mix of tablets seemingly at an all time low. We watched a few fireworks out of our 2nd storey bedroom looking across Thornton-Cleveleys, Bispham and Blackpool towards The Tower. For the most part they were a rather feeble affair compared with what Sky News offered us from Edinburgh, Sydney, Madrid and other locations

was it me, or should London have come up with something more spectacular; I don't know to be truthful, it could have just been poor coverage on Sky's part, but it didn't look to be as much as a capital city should offer, recession or not - maybe they're saving them for 2012...

There did look to be some sort of show on near where the North Pier should be, but we are too far away to see the very best of it. Bed eventually came after 01:00, but that would have been long before many.

I've never quite been able to get into the spirit of the New Year somehow, it feels to me more of a wake for something passing than it does a celebration of a new birth. I don't know exactly where that came from in my life, but it's so ingrained, I'm not sure I could change it now. The best I can point to is that I'm rarely in the same place at this time of year as I am for the rest of it - it never quite feels like the right place for it. Perhaps it will work itself out when I've settled myself in one location, or alternatively when I've worked out what's so fascinating about getting excessively drunk for no discernible reason...