It’s been a challenging year. Another challenging year, I should say. It feels as though each year after

the Covid pandemic struck we’ve been hoping for a wonderful reprieve, when everything suddenly

becomes much easier. It seems that isn’t going to happen just yet.

Last week I was travelling from Dublin Airport for work. We got stuck because of the cold weather,

and were held at a gate underground for hours, in the freezing cold, until well past midnight. It

wasn’t ideal. There was a lot of grumbling going on, as we were all very cold. But then my sister-in-

law sent through a picture of a cheery snowman my nephew had made. The cold weather clearly

wasn’t causing so much upset to everyone.

It all sounds a bit cheesy, but it made me stop and think for a bit and try to look at the situation

differently. I began to think how much worse things could be – at least I wasn’t in Ukraine facing the

prospect of cold and blackouts all winter. I was certain to reach a warm bed at some point. It’s just a

few weeks until New Year, which can bring a fresh start. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to a

few days off, and hope you all get the chance for a rest or a change of routine. And I’ll be thinking

about all the wonderful things which have come out of the past year, and that 2023 has the

potential to bring.