It is possible that yesterday was the best Christmas ever. It went a bit pear-shaped after midnight when the dog threw up over the bedroom floor, but that was after midnight so doesn’t count.

It started with a bit of a lie-in of course. Nothing too excessive, but the sort of thing we could only dream of when we had youngsters in the house. Traditionally this is the day when its OK to have a chocolate selection box for breakfast, but I opted for corn flakes instead, though I did have a couple of Celebrations as a chaser.

The weather was absolutely brilliant. Lovely clear skies and bright sun. We went out for a long walk with the dogs and it was quite eerie to see the empty roads around Manor Royal but so peaceful without all those cars everywhere. Despite the quietness, the buses were absolutely packed out, no doubt full of airport workers coming off their shift.

After the walk we had roast leg of lamb, which was  also perfect – sprouts, parsnip, mint sauce, everything you could want. It was so good we couldn’t face having the Christmas pud that I went out to get specially the day before to replace the one we have had knocking around for about three years and never got round to eating before it expired.

During the evening I broke with another tradition, the one where I usually end up having no alcohol over the entire holiday season, and had a couple of pina coladas while watching the John Wick 3 blu ray with Jayne.

There is a lot to be said for living in an empty nest and being able to do what you want, when you want!