Hi again, and welcome back after a six-month gap. It's mid January now, and that most ghastly of weeks at the end of December, laughingly called a "holiday", is at last safely behind us, the furthest away it ever gets.

Already the days are noticeably longer, and just yesterday there was a clearly visible sunset at 4.15pm. No sun, you understand, but lots of red rays. Those readers not fortunate enough to live in Scotland might be unaware that at 57 degrees from the equator, 4.15 is in midwinter a time of pitch darkness. That's the bad bit about living here: all the rest is fabby. (I'm lying, but let me be. This isn't coming too easily.) 

Cyberspace is delighted to welcome aboard Richard, bringing our readership now to 5, a thrilling 25 percent increase. We wasted no time in bullying him into his own website, which will doubtless soon be much better than this one.