I WISH I could get into some kind of Christmas Spirit, even if it were the alcoholic kind, it would make a change, but alas even that has escaped me as the famous Scottish 'falling doon water' clashes with my various prescribed drugs.

The world is getting warmer, so they tell us, (Not according to my feet and hands this morning).

We must stop burning fossil fuels and driving down to the supermarket for our electric blankets and Beluga caviar, we must use the limited public transport and only buy sustainable food items, and don't even think of using a plastic bag to put it in, or you will be in trouble with the PCs, (that's the political corrects).

If the major governments of the world really wanted to reduce emissions into the atmosphere, they would get together and instruct the car industries that all cars would have a maximum speed imposed on them, and engine sizes and functions would be controlled.

As for planning permission for wind farms, well, everyone thinks they are a good idea but don't build it near where I live. A wise old fox once said: 'If you are going to drain the pond, you don't consult the frogs.'

This is not the season to be jolly, it's the season for watching the same old stuff on the TV and for paying through the nose for it.

This is the season before the next election to think about what has been going on in the banks and in parliament, and just how much more rubbish they can feed to us before the rest of us say, 'Can I have some more please?'.

I could be described as a miserable old git, but then again maybe I'm just reacting to what is floating around the airwaves and wondering how my pension is going to stretch just another. little bit more than it did last Christmas

Monty Montgomery

16 Morris Close

Hatherleigh