Mister Greenfield's New Year

The sky was crystal clear close to midnight, with Orion pin-sharp above our heads in the unpolluted dark. The only light we could see were buoys bobbing far out in the Atlantic Ocean and the soft garden lights around the hot tub.

A new year, heralded in a new way for us. We bounced 'Mastermind' questions back and forth from an ancient boxed game from before 1986, pleased with the obscure answers we mustered from somewhere. Around a ninety percent score with the balance
tipping toward Mrs G. Then it was a question of donning bath robes (well, she wore mine...) as we headed out to the midnight garden clutching the bottle of Bolly we had been given on our ruby anniversary a couple of years ago. Not being enthusiastic drinkers meant we had kept this one in store for a special occasion. This was it. I forgot the sparklers though. I had bought the last packet in a little shop in Cardigan. A nice thought.!

The hot tub was heaven. we turned down the bubbles and opened the bubbly. Unlike us, we had opted for the plastic beakers, thinking all too sensibly about the consequences of tipsily broken glass...

Midnight came with the roaring off fireworks a few villages away at Saundersfoot. We heard more than we saw, but every few minutes a beautiful dandelion head would rise above the winter planting around the hot tub to shimmer in rainbow colours before fading into memory. The last of the seed heads appeared around ten minutes into the new year accompanied by a distant roar of an unseen crowd. Magnificent. Moments later explosions from closer harbours filled the air.

When silence overcame the night we hurried back to the cottage together. I returned to close the tub and extinguish the garden lights. I retrieved the half bottle of Bolly and sealed the top for the next night. There was tar on my fingers. I don't know where that
came from. I dreamed of the missing 1930s bow-tie that should have come with our Cardigan find. But the night was not yet over. How could it be?

And, for once, realistic resolutions and goals form in my mind. I'll re-structure 'Slow Poison', re-write 'Bloodstones'. Finish 'Red House' and turn 'Ruby Noone' back into a novel from the extensive screenplay it had become. On the musical side, there are two
albums scheduled for January recording plus a tour to organise.

Oh, and I've given up meat for good...but that happened in March really...but now it's official!

Happy New Year!