My New Year’s Eve didn’t go quite according to plan! We were all invited to one of those parties where everyone takes their kids and it’s a case of last man standing put the children to bed. One of the downsides of having a strong bedtime routine is that my younger two are not good with any change and don’t adapt well. This, coupled with over a week of being up at 5.30 and over-giddy during the day, meant that they were begging for their beds at 7.30. Ah well.

And then, by an unhappy mixture of poor communication and alcohol, I was not in the same place as my husband or elder children as the clock chimed twelve and saw in the new decade. So I was on my own.

Anyway, I don’t suppose it will make much difference to my decade that it wasn’t started, in time honoured fashion, with my nearest and dearest. After all, last year I was asleep at midnight and was woken only by the fireworks that went off as the new year came in.

I am looking forward to the new year. As you will know by now, I love the start of things. We are about to go for our New Year’s Day ramble up a nearby hump which Clark family legend has as an enchanted mountain. When I get to the snow-capped top, I can look down over the valley and start to make plans. Absolutley my favourite thing. Happy New Year to you all.