Season's greetings to all my readers

... and see you next year!

Today is the summer solstice, here in the southern hemisphere. The sun rose just before 5 am, with first light at 4.34 am kicking off the noisy but harmonious dawn chorus of rainbow lorikeets, fairy wrens and currawongs.

The shopping centres still incongruously play Christmas carols that warble of white Christmases and sleigh bells ringing. But it’s 32°C (90°F) here, and the song that really nails the ambience of Christmastime in subtropical Queensland is ‘Sounds Of Then’ by GANGgajang, which arose from the band’s frontman, Mark ‘Cal’ Callaghan’s memories of his school days in Bundaberg. Whenever I’m driving home from Rum City, with the heat haze shimmering off the bitumen and storm clouds glowering over the sugarcane fields, this song plays on loop in my mind. It brews up a potent admixture of my own recollections of hearing this song on the radio in my teenage years, with my current life in the very location that inspired the song, which is itself about how sounds, smells and sensations rekindle memories:

This is a time of festive fare and gift-giving; a time of reconnection with family and friends; and a time of reflection on the blessings we ordinarily take for granted.

I count you as one of my blessings, and I am so grateful to you, my dear reader, for taking the time to read my posts. I’m grateful to those of you who leave insightful and thought-provoking comments, and engage with other readers’ comments, and share and restack my posts. I’m especially grateful to those of you who have invested in my work by becoming paid subscribers, even though I don’t paywall any of my content.

(Shameless self-promotion - have you considered a gift subscription for that hard-to-buy-for person with an interest in health?)

I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas Day with your loved ones - whether you celebrate Christmas or not! I hope that the New Year brings you good health, happiness and fulfillment. And above all, I hope that all around the world, 2025 will be the year when ordinary people like you and me band together, find our voices, and raise them in chorus to tell our (mis)leaders in no uncertain terms, that we see through their attempts to divide us, distract us, and set us against other ordinary people - whether within our own countries, or between them - and that we refuse to allow them to plunder our production in order to fund their nefarious and antihuman activities any more. There is no one coming to save us, but we can save ourselves and each other by choosing peace, and love for what is good and righteous.

---

I will be taking a short break from this Substack to spend time with my family, and will look forward to reconnecting with you in early January.