Despite the wine, cider, music and sparklers, we celebrated New Year's Eve in a fairly restrained style. Somewhere along the line I stopped being a wild party animal. Nightclubs don't interest me much anymore and it was a relief not to wake up the following morning with a hangover. Many years ago when I was a student I actually consumed enough alcohol to last me the rest of my life, so I don't feel I'm missing anything!We are in the middle of an old-fashioned winter, the sort of winter they don't make anymore, icy and crisp with a pale blue sky and a weak low sun. Much better than wind and rain! We've been playing tennis on the beach to warm ourselves up. Meanwhile I've nearly finished my first story of 2009, a mini-epic called 'Hell Toupée' about a stiltwalking abominable snowman who becomes the founder of a new dynasty of Vegetarian Aztecs.