(Happy) New Year...

I'm not great with New Year. I tend to find the level of jollity expected quite hard to cope with - for me it tends to be a time to reflect back on the year gone and sometimes - 2015 was no exception - that can be quite sad. A very good friend lost to the dreaded Cancer - still slightly unbelievable that we'll never see her again, never stand on the steps at Foxhall Stadium cheering on the Witches together...our little Gang of Four has become a gang of three with her loss. My parents also said farewell to the older of their two dogs - although she'd reached a good age and definitely had a wonderful life throughout her time with them. Sad to see four-legged family members leave us though - especially ones you had a hand in the selection of during a trip to Battersea Dogs Home.  On a brighter note a friendship that I thought had to be let go has found a way through against the odds. Also something I'm still finding rather unbelievable - and yet which makes me smile every time I think about it. It's a friendship I value tremendously - and one which has taught me a lot, and I'm relieved beyond measure that we've found away to make it work. 

Lots of "pinch me" moments again in the last 12 months - mostly related to those Little Red Jets. Having photos used officially by the team was astonishing - and nothing I would have ever expected. Amazing to be given such incredible opportunities - and something that I never fail to be grateful for. So much fun around the airshows with the usual suspects - Claire, Kate, Tom & Anthony -- and we're planning more of the same for 2016. 

Elsewhere MrEH and I have made further progress towards killing off the mortgage over the past 12 months - and that attack will continue, albeit we are now very much on the home stretch. We've got plans also to start on some much-needed work on the flat - with a new bathroom being top of that list. We've also got plans for more UK travels including visiting a couple of new-to-us Hebridean islands, as well as our now regular trip to Uist. 

As usual I won't be making any New Year's resolutions, as such - I really don't believe in them. Aims for the year are really to enjoy life, to learn to accept things more readily, to accept in particular that sometimes friendships aren't "because of" anything, they just are. To accept that decisions made are usually for the best in the long term, but that doesn't mean that it's not entirely natural from time to time to reflect back and question whether a particular choice was the right one. To recognise the signs of the Black Dog approaching and to deal with them before it takes hold. To be happy. 

Robyn