Having ME makes life unpredictable in some ways, incredibly predictable in others. I know, for example, that if I eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and get out in the fresh air during the warm months, I will gain strength. If I get cold, get stressed or eat fewer fresh foods, I will lose strength. Things get progressively harder as the end of the year draws near, so I have to organise plenty of rest periods and lots of fresh fruit and veg. If I can stand on my own two feet for more than five minutes on Christmas day, then I know I've got it right. Of course, there are advantages: I haven't had to cook Christmas dinner or wash up afterwards for seven or eight years - then again, I haven't danced or played party games for the same period; neither have I remembered a single birthday or Christmas clearly. Most are in the misty realms of vague remembrances that form no clear impression in my mind. Last year was an exception and I was extremely well [comparatively speaking] for the entire winter. I may even have cooked the dinner, though memory fails me on that point. I'd hoped for the same again this year, but it looks like that won't happen.

It hasn't come to that yet, though, and I'm looking forward to meeting Peter Benson and his wife next week - I've also been inspired to do some work on an article about life in Coventry during the war. Before you start wondering about my age; I should add that the remembrances are from my parents, who were children there at the time, and from tales told by my grandmother.

My mother's account of the miracle of "Blitz flowers" touched me deeply as she described how all the local children were astounded by the appearance of beautiful spikes of deep pink blooms on bomb sites all over the city and ran home with armfuls of them for their mothers who put them in vases, jars, or anything that would hold water. For the people at that moment the flowers symbolised the hope that life could spring from desolation and this is just what happened. After the war the city became vibrant and prosperous with new buildings rising from the ashes of the old. Greatest of these was the cathedral, now famed for its powerful messages of peace and forgiveness.

For this year I wish everyone the peace that comes from being able to forgive.