tartan bunker

I write to a woman on business and get a nice email back thanking me for making her smile. Which makes me think. However dark the hour a smile is a bright thing to enjoy or behold. So what a gift it is to offer someone the chance to smile, to laugh . . . Don’t you worry, I have not grown Pollyanna pigtails on this account. And Dekaydence business is Dekaydence business, as far as my life is concerned. But think about it for a wee while in the context of your daily life, work and play and maybe in a wider context. What’s the cost to you, what the benefit of a smile?

It’s been a wee while since I took pen to blog. Apologies. Ma friend I tell you about occasionally has had what the Chinese describe as an interesting year. I prefer to say it was difficult. Two operations, a heavy workload, and the death of three family members and of a young friend. Sometimes such enormities hit you long after the event and take time to be absorbed. And ma friend’s troubles unsettled me, too.

Meanwhile, the world moves on. Or rather stays the same. Political shenanigans; global warming - man-made or natural; religious and cultural differences; the abuse of women, youngsters, the elderly, and animals going on in this country and around the world. All reflected in the new book, Green Fire, the second in the Chronicles of Dekaydence. The darkness of the first book, Black Light, gets darker. There is violence and murder but always, even in the bleakest hour, there can be humour. And technology. Like in life. Like in death.

Albert Schweitzer said there are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. I’d agree (adding humour and chocolate) and am happy to report that MacMog is in fine fettle and has taken to singing, albeit around one favoured note. I’ve heard worse on the radio.

So, belatedly, Happy New Year to you. And from Sunday, Happy Chinese New Year. The Year of the Tiger. My year and of course, MacMog’s.