Merry Christmas

Season's greetings to you all, my distant friends, from a chilly Newbury where the ducks are walking across the ornamental waterways at work, little webby feet sliding helplessly on the ice. A thin and transparent layer of ice, to be sure, but enough to bear the weight of a duck anyway and that's quite something for Berkshire. It's Friday 21 December and I am off work for a week or so, coming back to the office on 2 January and straight back into a whirlwind of organisation design and the associated change management. Lily Beatrice (seen here looking a bit pensive after we made her wear a silly festive bonnet) is well and flourishing and certain to wow the family up in Shropshire where we're spending Christmas Day.

So no long holiday for the Hogga family this Yuletide - after spending weeks in Moldova in the summer we'll have to wait until Spring '08 (Easter-ish) for our next break. As usual I am dreaming of weeks driving around Africa and visiting all and sundry, but realistically that would be cruel and unusual punishment for a little baby girl (and probably her mother too) so at the moment plans are still uncrystallised. We definitely need some bright sun though, and anywhere from Cyprus to Arizona to Perth will do.. offers and loans gratefully accepted.

Anyway dear readers, have a good one and I'll be posting the photos of our day soon.