2. Rick Parfitt has joined the exceedingly large company of significant figures in arts and entertainment who have shuffled off stage this year. No more Quo- which is tantamount to proclaiming the death of Rock'n'Roll. What with one thing and another I think future historians will look back on 2016 as the year one phase of world history ended and a new one began. What the new world will look like I'm not going to guess, but I'm choosing to see the upheavals of Brexit and the Trump presidency as symptoms of revolutionary unrest and unease- birthpangs if you like- rather than the shape of things to come.
3. Christmas Day 2016 is proving very mild weatherwise. Storm Barbara barely brushed the South East of England and Storm Conor has yet to arrive.
4. I read in one of the papers an estimate of how many tonnes of food will be thrown away at Christmas. Apparently- and it sticks in my mind because it's an image and not a number- we'll be pouring two Olympic sized swimming pools full of gravy down the drain. We- that's Ailz and I- haven't been greatly extravagant in our buying in this year- and I'm setting my face against adding to the total of waste. I hate throwing food away. It's disrespectful.