If there’s one thing I’ve learned already in 2026, it’s this: the year has a sense of humour.

It started with a simple visit to Tewkesbury to drop off presents and spend some precious time with my son, daughter-in-law and grandkids. A gentle stroll down Cemetery Lane of all places, chatting happily one minute, then the next I was airborne, landing full force on my wrist after tripping over a pothole.

I didn’t even have the presence of mind to let go of the dog lead. Perhaps that might have helped, but everything happened so fast.

Fast forward three weeks and the bone is still slightly displaced. I have fracture clinic on Tuesday, where the consultant will decide whether I need surgery. Please wish me luck. If I end up with a metal plate in my arm, I will be right back to square one and in plaster for another six to eight weeks.

Living left-handed has been… educational. Writing is slow, the keyboard is my sworn enemy, and the simplest tasks take heroic levels of concentration. The upside is I’m officially excused from housework and cooking, so I’m taking that win wherever I can find it.

As if that wasn’t enough, we are also in the middle of moving house. Well, I say moving house, but in reality all we have managed to do is move out of our home and into our motorhome, because the house we are buying still hasn’t completed.

So yes, we are technically homeless.

We even spent Storm Goretti in the motorhome. Slightly hair-raising doesn’t begin to cover it. The wind battered us all night and the rain was relentless. Thankfully, we were tucked between a hedge and a brick wall, which shielded us from the worst of it, though the bed rocked like we were riding a rollercoaster. We survived, the motorhome survived, and that alone feels like a small victory.

Now the storm has passed, the plaster is still on, and I am very much ready for my luck to change. I’m hoping that next time I write, I will be sharing some genuinely big and wonderful news.

For now, I just want to wish everyone a very happy New Year. Here’s to a kinder, brighter, and far less eventful 2026 for us all. xx