Oh yes, it's here again!
The annual 'spend too much, it'll be okay' ritual, enjoyed by everyone in inverse proportion to their ability to afford it.
The time of year when the simple task of buying a couple of days groceries becomes the kind of job that would be refused as too dangerous by the UN Peace Keeping Force.
The season of goodwill to all men, as demonstrated by the screaming hordes of numpties present in every high street in the land, knocking over old ladies and kids in their determination to run up their credit card debt to a level which would make George Osborne look like a miser.
The miserable frigging fortnight when something as simple as sending/receiving anything by post is a gamble of monumental proportions, both in terms of 'will it arrive in time?' and 'will it arrive at all?'.
And of course at a time when normal life is suspended in favour of crass materialism, the weather turns to shit, just to make sure you don't manage to extract even the smallest smidgeon of a shadow of a sliver of a particle of joy out of your days.
Still, it's not all bad. Not quite.
In between fighting to get to the stores, fighting to get to the checkout in the stores, fighting to get out of the stores, fighting to get home, fighting with the missus about how far ahead of Christmas (dammit, I swore not to use that word!) it's reasonable to stop having to do DiY (or any other form of work), fighting with the fairy lights that won't work even though they worked perfectly when you put them away, and fighting with the family about when it will be permissible to visit them, there is the soothing knowledge that for a few hours on Christmas Eve (dammit there's that bloody word again), and again on New Year's Eve, I can sit quietly up at Rame Head doing my bit as a watchkeeper for National Coastwatch.
There won't be a lot happening. Most of the yachties won't be out sailing on either day, the fishermen won't be out much as the shops won't be open the following day, the Navy won't be exercising, because they can't afford the fuel, and the big commercial vessels will be too far out to worry about. Hopefully the visibility will be okay and the watch will consist of peaceful contemplation of the ocean, with frequent trips to the galley to make another coffee.
As a watchkeeper, you never want anything exciting to happen, as that would probably mean someone being put at risk, but you want it even less around the 'winterval' holiday.
To everyone who will be out at sea over the holiday period, I wish you calm seas and soft winds, a safe passage and a quiet berth.
To everyone else, Happy New Year!
Mike
PS If you'd like to see what National Coastwatch is about, feel free to look in on our YouTube video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDLhjFm2_gM
