It is the 30th October, we have fallen into that period of inbalance and hesitation caused by circumstance. It is not a new period it happens every year, and every year I sit here thinking the same and trying to decide where to best manouvere next so that things are best tackled as the next period confronts us.........

Tomorrow is Halloween, people will knock on the door, dressed in a variety of ghoulish costumes, with parents in tow as they are young and need protecting, but all looking for sweets, because they feel they are deserving of them, and as I have not the heart to say trick, nor do I want my car trashed, I give them sweets!!

Then we have firework night, another night of excess when all sorts of explosives are sent into the air, as we are surrounded by teenagers, we will spend the following few weeks having a variety of fireworks let off at stupid times and at inapropriate places. Eventually someone gets hurt and it stops until New Year!!

As a Pyro person I also shudder when I see small children with Sparklers, when will parents realize that these are white hot pieces of metal that we give to young children to wave around, then grasp with acrylic and wool gloves that melt into burning little hands and fingers!!!! Forget the injury when they poke each other in the eye!!

PLEASE USE GLOW STICKS INSTEAD!!!!

It is half term, so the children are also starting to say how bored they are, and what is a solution - Do their Christmas list??!!

And that is the period of inbalance..............

The clocks have gone back so now it is dark early, therefore it must be winter!! If it is not light they can't really go out on their BMX late, or to the park, so moan. As it is now winter where is the snow??? As it is not yet snowing that is my fault!!

All children have a belief that Santa knows the pages and item numbers in the Argos catalogue. They also are certain he has an Elf department whose sole job is to ensure that firstly the North Pole has always got all of the Argos supplements, leaflets and Christmas specials, and then to also make sure that regardless the items held on the pages are ALWAYS available!!!

A sensible use of this period of dullness would be to do the Christmas lists, but no, why would anyone want to provide anything to make life easier, why would a child want to allow Santa a bit of breathing space when the 20th of December is a far better date to announce what is really wanted!!

So here is that "no-mans land" of time, the music channels are not playing Christmas music, the film channels have not woken up to Christmas movies yet. Supermarkets are 70% there, but children do not go there often, and other shops we keep them away from, the food channels on the TV have not yet begun the endless rounds of festive recipes and treats, and the terrestrial channels have not yet started the usual round of Children in Need, Heroes at Christmas, Pride of Britain etc...

It is just a nothing time, a time when we all have great intentions to write cards, buy early gifts, and prepare food for the freezer. The reality, we run around as a taxi service, realize what is actually needed and then start to worry how we are going to do this, and I am sorry to sound like doom and gloom, this is not a James negative rant, but, if I just look at things with a pure financial slant, no one has a chance, I know I don't!!!

Does this mean that the time has arrived to turn the clock back, I don't know to when, but surely, Christmas is a time of togetherness in this time of neither Christmas or Summer we should prepare for this. We should also remember the words of Burton Hillis -

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."

Surely now as we just meander we need to state, "forget the thousands of pounds, this year here there just will not be that, have each other instead"

Do we think it will work......................