Dying Spark, You Left Your Mark

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellow,

We had a nice New Year's Day. Tups and The Lovely Nieces called. "What are your aspirations for the year?" they asked us.

Pressure. 

I told them I wanted to take them all to the pickle place and get them drunk. 

"Is that where you threw up into the pickles?" asked Abi. 

I had to tell her that no, that was a SEPARATE occasion. "I have a troubled history with pickles," I explained. 

The rest of our day was mercifully quiet. Only broken up when Caro realised that we had a surfeit of custard left over from yesterday's big dinner. (Mo had supplied us with Xmas pud and cream puffs and custard). 

"We could drive to Woolworth's get an apple pie and it could be ready by 8:30," I told Caro. I made it sound so easy.

So off we went. Only to realise that today was NEW YEAR'S DAY. I mean. Who knew?

All the supermarkets were closed. To add insult to injury, some of them had only JUST closed. Caro drove to the beach to try the superette there. 

It was open but all they had was black forest gateau and tiramisu. 

"Effin' TIRAMISU," muttered Caro.

Yeah.

We consoled ourselves by taking sunset pictures over the sea. It was a quite beautiful evening and it brought with it a sense of calm. 

2023 has been my anus horribilis year. Packed with sh*tty incident, not just for me but people close to me.

I don't feel as happy and optimistic as I was. Perhaps I was naively happy then. Perhaps things will reverse themselves. I don't know. 

All I can say is that I remain hopeful. With sunsets like these, it is hard to banish happiness altogether. That's really all I need. 

More sunsets. That's my aspiration for the year. 

And maybe the odd pickle too.

S.