Anyone who has been around on these pages for the last couple of years and more will recognise the air of gloom that’s settling on my shoulders. It’s Christmas and once again, I feel wretched as a wretched thing. I don’t know why – it just happens to me every year and stays until about 28th December when I feel as though I can start again and pretend the C word never happened.

I’m never backward in coming forward about much of what I hate about it and two years ago, I explained my main reason for hating this so-called ‘festive’ season. There is no reason for me to continue to be so gloomy about it but nonetheless I am.

Anyway, we’ve been out on something of a wild goose chase today, trying to finish our rather paltry Christmas shopping and we decided (well, I decided) that our local town has seen enough of us for a bit so I said to DM ‘let’s go somewhere else for a change’. For some reason unbeknown to me, we ended up in Falmouth, which was David’s idea and was always something of an odd choice given that it’s a long way from home, past two other sizable towns that would have done just as well. He also confessed, later in the day, that he’d not been very keen on it last time we went there. How strange is this man that I love?

This pic is of the St George’s Hall in Falmouth, a fabulous confection of a building, very much in the list of ‘top likes’ in my world – a building from a time gone by when the builder wanted to make a statement and hang the cost. I hate the fact that most building now is done with the cheapest building materials and the emphasis on function rather than form. So, whenever I see a building like this one, it gladdens my heart and as my heart today feels as though it’s filled with lead then that has to be a good thing.

I did a bit of poking around on Google to find out a bit more about it and came across this – a quote from the programme of the first performance there…. "The front elevation in Church Street is executed in freestone from the Bath stone quarries and is of the Renaissance period. Its appearance is most striking, and the effect has been greatly enhanced by the massive proportions and enrichments, the latter consisting of scrolls, clusters of fruit, a cartouche and a dolphin placed at the apex of the gable - the whole being a marvellous exhibition of clever design and skilled workmanship." You can see the initials of the owners (the Harris Brothers) above the ‘E’ of George.

So, this made me a bit happier, then I came home to the sweetest of (private) messages on my pic from yesterday, left by one of my friends and it reminded me that despite part of my gloom being caused by a couple of obnoxious guest comments of late, I have a lot to feel pleased about and despite the nasty comments of the few, most of my pbase experiences are wonderful and I have had several really outstanding ones recently.

I thought I’d share one such experience with you and you can see why I carry on doing this day-in, day-out for 1020 or so days now….

“Linda:

I hope that you don't mind my taking the liberty of sending you a message.

I have been reading your journal and enjoying your photographic art for a good year now...and never miss a day! I have to tell you that I have been "green with envy" as you and your beloved DM have set out upon your new life in Cornwall.

I must say that I have been living in a suburban environment here in the US for the last 20 years, though growing disenchanted with the crime, the growing hectic pace of life, my new nasty neighbors, and a 20 year career that has recently seen me being downgraded to part-time status.

As I would devour every entry of your journal, I would wish that I too, could chuck it all and move to the country. Recently, I put two and two together and realized that I can make this move, as my family owns a 67 acre non-working farm here in rural xxxxx. The farm was left to my parents when my grandmother passed away many years ago, and has been sitting idle ever since.

The veil fell away from my eyes one evening, when, as I was reading an entry of yours, I realized that I have what it takes to leave the rat race and make a new life for myself. I know that there is going to be a lot of work involved in bringing the old house up to standards, but it is going to be a new chapter in my life, and I am so looking forward to it. You have done it...so can I!

So Linda, thank you for your day to day thoughts, as you have truly been (and continue to be) an inspiration to me.

You rock!”

I do hope the sender doesn’t mind my use of these words – I haven’t asked permission but I have anonymised them so all you can tell is that the person comes from the USA.

OK – you see now why I continue? Yep – it’s stuff like this. I can't tell you how much pride I felt when I read this - it was as though every moment has been worth it and every step has been important.

I got terribly upset recently by one person who decided, because of something I wrote, that I am heartless and selfish and that I should get a few reminders of life in the real world. What most rankled was that the observation was made because of a disposable comment I made about something which is actually extremely important to me – even though it may seem like every part of my life is public, that’s not the case. In fact, I have a suspicion that whoever wrote the comment (and as always the individual was too much of a coward to leave a name) had never read anything else I’d written nor indeed could have possibly known that I have actually been doing something about the problem for more than a year now in a quiet way and without shouting about it. He/she just decided to write a sanctimonious ‘don’t you know there are people out there who are worse off than you’ comment with a somewhat chilling ending.

Ultimately I can’t stop the cranks of the world from taking a pop at me but what I can do is take notice of the good souls and ignore the uninformed creeps. So, I kind of like my St George’s Hall shot and like the idea of fighting a few dragons tonight!

Two years ago, I was thinking about waste (again) and last year, I was being a sad old 70s throwback!