Hope you've all had a very merry Christmas, ours was good and as you can see I got what I wanted:



Now I can't wait for New Year, which is going to rock as usual.

Yesterday we went out for a walk with my father-in-law. It was, as it often is, incredibly muddy. It doesn't help that we had snow last week which has now melted following heavy rain. The place where we usually walk the dog resembles a swamp bog.

Isabel: Can I climb in that ditch?
Mattgreen: No, it's really muddy.
Isabel: How do you know?
Mattgreen: I've seen a lot of mud in my time and I'm seeing it now.
FIL: Mud isn't what it used to be.
Alicey: (in thick Yorkshire accent) I can tell you stories about mud!
Mattgreen: When I were a lad, we 'ad mud so deep you could barely walk.
Alicey: I used to open m'front door, and I'd be up to my neck in mud, and then I'd 'ave to trudge to the mud mine.
FIL: You was lucky you had a mud mine to work down.
Alicey: I 'ad mud for breakfast, dinner and tea, and I were grateful for it.
FIL: But it's not the same these days. Modern mud don't 'ave the goodness it used to.
Mattgreen: Yeah, it's all mechanically reclaimed mud these days. Don't taste like it oughta.
Isabel: (in true teenager whine) Yeah yeah yeah. So can I go in the ditch then?