New Year 2024

And so here we are again entering a new year. That strange calendar construct that signals the turning of the world and the passage of our lives.

I don’t subscribe to the idea that everything will change miraculously on 1st January and that only at this point in the year do our intentions to be better galvanise us into action.

But it’s as good a point as any to reflect on the year just past and to look forward to what the year ahead holds in store for us all.

As I sit here contemplating the state of our fridge and freezer, my mind turns to food. We ended up doing a lot of entertaining over the festive period, and I’m frankly exhausted from cooking.

We have a fridge full of leftovers. We’ve just completed our last commitments with neighbours on New Years Day, and I’m now looking forward to a week of subsisting on easy meals.

We have enough cheese to sink a battleship, which is a nice problem to have. As much as I’d love to just eat cheese in its various guises for the next week I feel that we have to inject some vegetables, so I shall be frenziedly chopping up anything green or still crunchy from the fridge for mixed salads.

I know most cheeses freeze well. But I’d rather eat it fresh, grilled, gratinated or chutneyed. I’m thinking cheesy leeks, grilled cheese sandwiches, Brie risotto.. there I go again. Before I know it I’m planning meals that involve cooking and I’m trying to avoid that for a few days at least.

I’m wishing you all a wonderful new year. Think positively, embrace all possibilities and make the most of what you have. Love your friends and family. If you are lucky enough to have someone special in your life, be grateful and enjoy them.

Try and live lightly on this fragile planet, wasting as little as you can, simplifying wherever you can. Make time to enjoy the wind, the rain and the mountains as well as the sun.

Read good books.

Grow food and flowers and try and contribute to the biodiversity of your environment in any way that you can.

Be a bit wild occasionally and don’t fear to take chances. We have one life and we all deserve to be happy. Happiness is often found in the most unlikely of places, so open doors, be curious, take opportunities.

Love your life.