It is the 7th January as I write and Christmas already seems long ago.  The decorations have returned to the loft and it is as though it never happened.  Except, sitting in the dining room/study/my playroom (note the evolution) the evidence is there for all to see – a half built Tamiya Monster Beetle which will eventually play host to the GoPro camera and, a stack of new books.  As this is part personal diary, I will use this as an excuse to list them – they reflect my passions and tastes in a way that nothing else can.  I am grateful to a well-informed Santa (and friends and relations 🙂 )

• Alan Bennett’s Keeping On Keeping On – because I have read everything else he has produced;
• John Simpson’s We Chose to Speak of War and Strife – as above;
• Damon Hill’s Watching the Wheels – because his dad was a childhood hero and this most thoughtful of racing drivers promises an intriguing insight to his and his late father’s character;
• Rick Broadbent’s That Near-Death Thing – Inside the Isle of Man TT – no explanation necessary;
• Julian Ryder’s MotoGP Season Review 2016 – again, no explanation required;
• John Berger‘s Here is Where We Meet – a late convert to this man’s fine work, I have some catching up to do;
• Colm Tóibín’s Mothers and Sons – anyone who has read Golf in the Wild will know why this title resonates;
• Robert Marshall’s The Haunted Major – a comic golfing story first published in 1902. This wasn’t actually a Christmas present but, ordered in August, it didn’t arrive until January 1st, thanks to the neighbour’s offspring – bless ’em 🙂

There is a vaguely amusing story attached to this last book.  A friend who looks after the feet of the Newcastle United players loaned the Haunted Major to Kevin Keegan, explaining that it was the story of a sportsman who thought himself much better than he really was – “Are you trying to tell me something!” was Keegan’s immediate response. Within a week Keegan was gone from Newcastle, along with said book.  Once read I should pass it on as compensation.

The one passion not covered by the above is photography but I tend to just do it rather than read about it.  These are the Blip images from the first seven days of 2017:

This is the video used for grabbing the moon rising image – more fiddling about with the GoPro in the adjacent field.  Keep an eye out for the good lady feverishly cleaning the porch – Spielberg would have fired her on the spot 😀

Must stop now, I have some reading to do and a Beetle to build.