Shores of Night

 Hi, Photo by Mira Kemppainen on Unsplash It's been a while, hasn't it? Not since I posted -  I was generally grumpy about the festive season (humbug!) last weekend - but since I talked about my life here. Reflection is something that comes pretty easily to me, and it feels natural to take stock at this part of the year. It's a natural part of winter, where things are slower and the world a little quieter.  This year has been a bit crazy and it feels like it's been tough, emotionally. In some respects I've ended up running as fast as I can to stand still, as Alice in Wonderland put it. As we grow closer to the end of the year, I'm trying not to feel too aggrieved by things, as well as girding my loins for whatever comes next. Please forgive me because I don't feel I can really go into immense amounts of detail in some areas but will at least touch on the parts which have been difficult.  The good news is that my job is now safe. My employer has had to downs...

 I don't like Christmas.  There, I said it. I've committed heresy, possibly the biggest one I can. Christmas has become such a huge tentpole in our calendar, so associated with happiness that it really does feel like it's a crime to dislike it. Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash Partly, the reason I dislike it is that it starts too early. Here in the UK, you see Christmas items in the shops as early as September. That's usually just as the "back to school" tat gets taken down but before the Halloween stuff gets shelf space. Christmas Carols can be heard as early as the start of November, which is usually when the deluge of seasonal adverts for shops invade the media, in whatever format you're watching or listening. The world and his wife tries to convince you that they're more caring and "Christmassy" than the next brand over, in what feels like a rather hollow exercise in "us too, we love Christmas!" Towns and cities fill up with C...