Let’s avoid the clichés and just state 2020 has not been a great year. It started with promise. I made my first visit to Africa, setting foot in Tangier, Morocco. Unfortunately, I did not get to spend a lot of time there, but we enjoyed it all the same. We were also in Rome and Genoa at the time that coronavirus was starting to make the news. It is probably no surprise, in retrospect at least, that my wife tested positive for it on our return to England. That all seems like a very long time ago now.

Christmas is my favourite holiday. People used to say that it was for the kids, back in the 1990’s when consumerism was rampant, but I never accepted that. For me, Christmas is for the family. I remember when I was young that my father used to work long hours. He had gone…