And a very Happy Christmas to all my readers. Another year gone, pretty uneventful for me, thank goodness. No dramas, no illnesses. That’s the way we like it. I hope it was the same for you.

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Aarrrgh, the days are getting shorter, the nights are drawing in. It feels strange that we’ve passed midsummer, December 21st or 22nd, while it feels as if summer has hardly begun. Personally I like the long evenings, with sunset at 7.21pm and plenty of light left after that. And seeing the morning lightening the blinds at 4.30am. Bah winter, stay away.

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My friend is having Christmas in Vienna this year, having had a knee replacement about a month ago. She’s with her family, so that’s good. Will you be having a white Xmas, I asked? No, it’s too cold, she said, just cloudy and rainy and cold. Brrrr. I know where I’d rather be.

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I’m at home, shirtless, fan on but no need for air-con. It’s actually a bit cloudy outside with 36C predicted. My two good mates will be coming for Xmas dinner, the Italian kind (home made pizza, yum) accompanied by cold ales and tall tales. I’ll offer a movie from Netflix for dessert, maybe The Irishman, but at three hours it’ll be too long. Still, there are plenty of choices.

I’m quite pleased with my subscription and use it several times a week, but a friend raised a point I hadn’t thought of: by paying for streaming TV, I’m contributing to the death of free-to-air TV in Australia, thereby reducing diversity of opinion and reducing Australian employment.

Hmmm, he’s right, you know. It’s a dilemma. I don’t find anything of interest on the commercial channels, although I’m a staunch viewer and supporter of the ABC and SBS. Yet most of their best material is from overseas.

I don’t know the answer, but I don’t think me cancelling my Netflix subscription would be able to turn the tide.