Happy New Year everyone. I've had a great time with family and friends over the holidays. First up was a few days with Dad and Carole in Watford. My brother and sister-in-law came with my gorgeous little nephew/godson, and my step-brother came too. We had a great time, ate too much, played silly games and enjoyed each other's company. I made a decision to keep alcohol intake to nearly zero but have to admit it really made no difference at all to my enjoyment.

Earlyish on Boxing day I had to drive back to Wimbledon to pick up my passport that I had forgotten to bring, then straight up to Stansted to rendez-vous with Charles and Kathy and baby Patrick to head over to Belfast to get the wee lad baptised. It was a nightmare journey - we nearly missed the plane - but Patrick was very well behaved thank God. Over in Belfast there was lots of Kathy's family around and it was all energetic and enjoyable. The baptism itself was simple and fairly short. I had to renounce Satan and his works - have to admit crossing my fingers: some of Satan's works are rather fun! Still, I'm now just-about-officially a Godparent to the boy. Poor lad, he cried through most of it - he wasn't getting religion without a battle!

After Belfast I recuperated at home in Wimbledon for a couple of days before heading off to Amsterdam on New Year's Eve. I stayed with my friend Sarah who has a flat there while she's working there for 6 months. There were lots of Oxford dancing friends there and we had a fantastic time. The Dutch are insane - they let off firecrackers in the street next to you and hold fireworks in their hands while they light them with cigarettes and proceed to point them all over the place. Scary but great atmosphere and midnight was fantastic.

A poignant part of New Years was that my poor friend Pete was putting a remarkably brave face on given his mum had dropped dead suddenly only a couple of weeks before - complications of cancer treatment. It really brought home just how much has happened since Mum died last year - I found it quite cathartic being able to talk to him about my experiences and asking him about his. I hope I was useful rather than just making it worse for him - very brave of him to come at all considering the funeral was on the 4th.

Finally, after a nightmareish 10-hour delay at Schipiol airport I got back home on the 2nd. I went over to Charles and Kathy's house to say hello and see Patrick for a bit. While I was there I managed to help them a video of patrick giggling like mad on to Patrick's blog. Its worth a visit to see the ultra-cuteness of my nephew, even though I'm biased as hell!

Happy New Year to you all. Keep your eyes peeled for more news about my plans for this year!