TIM LEATHERBARROW....HAVE WE ALL RECOVERED FROM ANOTHER FESTIVE GUT-BUSTING; BRAIN PICKLING ;FESTIVE SEASON.

THE WISE MEN WISELY SCARPERED WEST WHEN THE STAR IN THE EAST FOLLOWED THEM !

Well thats that!....Another gut-busting ; brain pickling fortnight over with as the festive gluttony and piss-up is now done n' dusted. The decorations are down and the new year resolutions are starting to wither ,die and be forgotten as the new year builds up and our will power dies out.

Go on , admit it you were going to lose weight; go to the gymn; Read more books; Basically all the stuff you were determined to do the last 10 New Years!!!....Christmas is now over as all the christmas film channels on Sky have stopped ,but it does feel a little like its just starting as you watch all the programmes you've recorded over the weeks and they've still got the lead up adverts to christmas ,so theres people in party hats joyously cooking and pouring gravy over turkeys. I'm ploughing through the X-Files and Spooks and whizzing hi-speed between level 12 and 6 on the fast foreward on the remote and seeing blurred festive families and turkeys and kids playing in the snow. I then have to watch a little backwards a little slower as i fly past the beginning of the next part of the programme and have to rewind to get to the restart.

In the 'old days' programmes started with a theme tune and showing the stars then on it went. The breaks had 'End of part one', or whatever , then 'Part two', or whatever. Nowadays programmes just start and as it goes on for the next twenty minutes you get the names of producers, directors, etc and the break is just that...'Zip!'..Gone to ads. Likewise when it restarts ...'Zip!...Ads finish and instantly back to programme. A problem is that as you whizz through the fast foreward the ads before the reumption of the programme is some forthcoming programmes , even future episodes of what your watching so you have no idea when to press play again, so you'll end up half way through the next half unaware the adverts have finished.

But we had a 'good' un' while it lasted. Now i've got to get another 7 months stint of work around the other side of the world to help pay for the next christmas. The fine busy caricaturist month of December kicked off with nothing for yours truly, then a rush of work came through, oh joy be unrestrained thought i !........Then after knocking a few other gigs off as the dates clashed the originals decided to cancel, so i got a few , but nothing like it looked like being at one point, bastards!

Anyhow , one n' all hope it went well and the New year is a 'Blast', lets live each day as it's meant to be.