2010

Well, it's arrived - the New Decade. Here in London it was greeted by blue skies which is a positive beginning. But I'm never quite sure what to make of these imposed fresh starts. Last year I had possibly my best NEW YEAR ever - when I joined friends at a cottage in Loch Tay, Scotland. It was stunningly beautiful, and we cooked, talked and sang our way into 2009. On the 1st Jan, with frost on the ground and ice at the waters edge, we ran screaming into the Loch, and washed away the old. It was exhilarating and symbolic. This year, there's been nothing so significant. So today I'm holding a little tea-party for local friends just to galvanize myself into action and lever myself out of the back-end of the year. I've made heart-shaped scones, and pretty cakes, and the savoury note will come from cream-cheese and cucumber sandwiches. To decorate the table I've sprayed some seed-heads from the hedgerow gold, and hung them with little crystals. In the centre, I've wedged my old candelabra, bought some ten years ago for £25 from a junk shop in Lyon. I used to think I'd restore it to work on the mains, but I've actually come to prefer it with real candles. So this year, no symbolism, but a simple celebration of friendship, and the art of making a little magic out of nothing. Here's to a Happy New Year.