Well, the holiday season is finally over and normal service is resumed, a sense of trudging back to the drudgery of daily life, wondering what the new year has in store for all of us, recession and double dips, government trying to sell off what forests there are left (even Thatcher knew she dare not) Egypt and the Arab world in upheaval, two men job sharing in Downing Street who I wouldn't trust as far as I could spit, phone hacking, Wikileaks, student riots on the streets of London and I saw this the other day on our carpet - it summed up the state of play, a piece of tiny tinsel glitter on the carpet. It seemed like some comment upon the festive season just passed, if not on the story of Three Wise Men following a star...........this tiny star a little piece of shiny glister in a grey, dull grey oppressive repressive world

The weather meanwhile after the snow finally cleared looked largely like this..........................

That was a few weeks ago...............this morning the view from Coombe towards the Wytham Woods at 8.30am looked like this

A summary commentary on the political climate, dull grey and with a certain sinister sense of foreboding.........here's wishing everyone a healthy prosperous and safe 2011 

"The Wolves Are Running" - J Masefield