Having got home this evening, and had an interesting meal – couscous with pomegranite and a lamb dish, very nice indeed – I was despatched to deliver some cakes around the village. My goodness the temperature had dropped, it was rather chilly. God had turned the thermostat down. I suspect it will be a bit icy on the road tomorrow.

This time last year I was reflecting on 2008, and how the economy had gone pear shaped, MFI, Woolies disappearing, etc. I suppose there has been a steadying of the economy and we haven’t quite seen the big stories we had in 2008, and we have even seen some stock market recovery. Not that all is well yet, inflation was up to 1.9% today, so still below the 2.2% government target, though I wonder if this means we might start to see interest rates rise, even though the economy is still flat. If interest rates are kept low, will we see inflation starting to run ahead… who would be an economist ? I was also wondering about how the ‘saviour’ President Obama would be looking a year on. He was swept in on a wave of media hype… he certainly seemed credible, spoke well, and had an authority and certainty about him… but he also had a trillion dollar deficit to deal with, which would no doubt stop him doing what he wanted.

I never expected him to get the nobel peace prize… what was that all about ? Precisely what did he do to deserve that ? A month later he started to send more American troops to Afghanistan. Sounds wrong to me. But in the States, it would seem that his ‘approval’ ratings have fallen. It isn’t his fault that he inherited an economic mess, but there seemed to be an expectation he would start waving a wand and fix everything. How deluded… Trouble is he can’t really seem to point at a success in any area, his foreign policy doesn’t seem to have made any difference in Iraq or Afghanistan. I don’t suppose that anybody else could have done better, but he is just a classic example of looking good, plenty of soundbites, media hype… and little substance. We should all worry about politicians who crave power… Tony Blair, David Cameron, even Gordon Brown, all desperate to be / have been PM regardless of what it took.

Tomorrow evening Robbie is off to London to meet Nikki and they are going onto a concert… guess who is picking him up at the station around midnight when he comes back… oh yes that would be me.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

A Boxing day dinner from either 86 or 87… Tricia took the photograph. And one of Ellie when she was about 3, with Tyson, our old cat with her.