Marteen's Christmas Message

Who needs to be regal to pontificate on things? Our dear queen encapsulates her year in her speech, but despite my respect for her, I have to say, she is not the only one who can do this. I am fortunate to be able to speak openly and on a regular basis with this blog. It is a liberty I would fight to protect. There are many who would like to subjugate and suppress the likes of me, but they won't.
There is much wrong with the world. Wars are never far away. There always seems to be one going on somewhere. I hope Deacon Barry and others are wrong, and Iran is not the next target of American imperialism, but I will not die of surprise if this turns out to be the case. We may be behind our "American cousins" in some respects, but when it comes to barging your way about the world and forcefully telling people to live their lives the way we do, they have a lot of catching up to do compared to the Brits, but they are trying their hardest.
It's virtually impossible for me to do a post without mentioning the McCanns. This is not the time to reiterate some of the things I have said. I hope there is a happy ending to this story. It is difficult to hang on to the fact that this is real people's lives. It so smacks of "show time". I would love to think that Madeleine McCann is still alive, but I fear the poor wee mite is long gone. Possibly by accident, but still gone.
My own life has had it's twists and turns in the last year. My mum had two spells in hospital, which was challenging. Not least because it is a nightmare trying to park in the grounds of Edinburgh's premier hospital. A rant for another day.
You may think it bad of me to say so, but I am glad it is all over. The mother I once knew was long gone. We used to go on holiday together, collaborate on crosswords (she was always much better than me) and share things despite we were very different in character. Latterly she had no quality of life, which depressed me, and she was in a lot of pain. At a time of year when people celebrate life this is probably not what you want to hear, so I will give it a miss now.
All the best to you and yours. I wish everybody, especially those who have the good taste to read this blog, a very merry Xmas. Make what you will of it. Stuff your faces with excess food, but don't do a guilt trip afterwards.
For me, I am going to write to people. People I care about. And tell them I do. It makes me feel good that I will have done so. It is so important to me. Enjoy.