Greetings

 Special (slightly late) greetings for all my blog friends with hopes high for 2021. As, on most Christmases, kind friends have sent cards and sometimes accompanying letters.   Some of you are among them.  We are really grateful for all the greetings.

Usually, I attempt a summary of the years' happenings which I confess made for much more fun when the children were at home and we possessed an adventurous cat.  We still revel in our children and grandchildren's exploits but now they send out their own letter and greetings.  This year of largely non-happenings posed a problem but I resolved it by telling a little story.   

Just last week, before (reseeing) another emotional TV session of Buying and Selling, Carol and I ventured a night walk round the block. This requires some daring. Most streetlights have been removed and intense darkness makes finding our way to the right home surprisingly tricky.  So many houses look just the same.  Since Carol’s severe labrythitis (starting this time last year) her loss of balance makes walking a series of erratic lurches.  Always needing to grasp my arm these lurches transmit an oscillation causing us to wobble together in a very distinctive zigzag formation. On this particular occasion, a man hailed us in the darkness: ‘It’s the Quickes…I recognized the walk’. Mercifully the night air carried his voice so, unusually, we heard him first time.  However, we had absolutely no idea who he was. We still don’t. This true story expresses much of 2020.  The powering down of memory cells, balance mechanisms, hearing and general alertness to life around. Fortunately, lockdowns mean fewer and fewer friends have been aware.

I know it's rather odd, but the whole year has been odd hasn't it.  So, with this insight into the Quicke lives let me express our love and greetings to my blog friends with prayers for a brighter 2021.