Happy New Year

So here it is, my first blog of 2011.

I suppose at this time of year one should be looking forward but I really do have to mention Christmas. It now seems as far away as ever, and yet this year is the happiest of memories. I remember as a child how all the preparation and anticipation of the big day seemed to take forever and yet the day went by in a flash. For the last two years we've had something to look forward to after Christmas as we've been on holiday. Last year we went off to New York and had a brilliant time. This year we were given a holiday cottage from our friends Tim and Mandy down in Swanage and we headed off there for the New Year.

It's not a part of the country I was familiar with but it's absolutely beautiful. Swanage is where Enid Blyton lived for a large part of her life, and funnily enough she seemed to be the main inspiration for our holiday activities. Friday morning saw a walk along the cliff tops, the Anvil point Lighthouse, the ruined castle clad in scaffolding, and the cliffs in the caves beneath them were all essential ingredients in any Enid Blyton adventure story.

The town of Swanage takes to the streets in fancy dress on New Year's Eve's and so we went down to wander amongst the local populace and have a look. It was quite bizarre. All the adults in pubs getting pissed, and all the under 18's wandering the streets doing the same.

New Year's Day and we really did enter the full Enid Blyton spirit of adventure. We tookl the Swanage steam Railway train up to Corfe Castle. You can't imagine a more evocative scene than Corfe Castle railway station. The castle towers above the village,and steam trains chug along the bottom of the castle ramparts. It was iidyllic, a reminder of an England thatprobably never really existed except in the minds of middle-class children's novelists, and yet it was beautiful. And a brilliant way to start the year. Pub lunch, cream tea, the works!

Our Christmas too was absolutely wonderful. I'm lucky at Christmas in that I have the people who matter most with me. My mother travels down to Yorkshire, and this year spent nearly a week with us. She's 89, and one night when I went into the guest room to tuck her in and see if she was alright, I thought how funny it is how things change round. Forty six or so Christmases ago that's exactly what she would have done to me.

Richard has to sacrifice a little bit of his Christmas in order for me to have my mum with us , and as with most things he does it with an amazingly good grace. I planned a big surprise in that wrapped up under the Christmas tree was an iPad, something he had no idea he was going to get. He was truly delighted. The presents were open and I surveyed my pile on the floor. I got everything I asked for on my list and yet.......... I felt that something was missing. I'm a terrible poker player, and my disappointment showed instantly on my face and. Disappointment that I hadn't asked for anything particularly special. I needn't have worried. With a bit of a flourish and a large smile on his face, Rich produced a final parcel from under the sofa. I didn't have a clue as to what it could be, and I can't express the delight or wonderment that flooded through me as I unwrapped a brand-new MacBook air. A thing of beauty and and something I have been salivating over in the Apple Store for the past couple of months. Words failed me.

I don't cook Christmas lunch. I tried it one year when we first moved into a flat in Balham and that was enough. We're lucky enough to be invited out most years and this year was no exception. We spent the day with Sophie Ellis Baxter and her husband and children at their house in Chiswick and we had an absolutely delightful time. Fabulous food–she may be a pop star, but she can also peel 60 potatoes and serve eighteen people for lunch, party games, and an awful lot of time spent on Xbox Kinnect laid on a huge room sized screen. What more could two little boys want for Christmas?

It's been a delightful time. Time to spend with people one loves, and time to relax, and the time to enjoy. All qualities I fully intend to take forward into 2011