If you’re one of the many thousands who have been diligently following this blog in its first couple of weeks, you might wonder why it stopped in its tracks around 11 December. Here’s the short version.

On 11 December our daughter moved house. Amanda called BT and asked them to terminate our daughter’s phone line. Instead, the geniuses at BT cut off OUR line.

We spent two weeks fighting to get reconnected. We were bounced between call centres in Scotland, India and Essex. We spent a fortune on mobile phone calls. Sometimes we had to queue for 20 minutes to get an answer. Sometimes we got cut off by BT’s own computers.

Many of the Customer Service people were hugely well-meaning but they admitted that BT’s system simply wouldn’t let them reconnect us. The computers defeated them every time. Two days ago we got a land line again; only we didn’t have our original number, so no one knew where to call us. Today – Christmas Eve – we finally got our old number back. Wonderful.

However, in the meantime the cancellation of our landline had resulted in the loss of our broadband connection. We are told this can’t be reinstated until 3 January at the earliest. Until then, to get on the internet I have to trek to the public library. Even then I can’t upload material. So no pics in this blog until after 3 Jan.

Am I going to complain to BT? You bet. The disruption and inconvenience have been massive and the cost significant. Am I going to leave BT for a different phone company? You bet. Am I going to buy a wifi-enabled laptop? I am.

And in the New Year I’ll be back with – at last – the post about Julian Cooper’s great show of quarry paintings at Brantwood, news of Manchester salsa events, pieces about Alaskan poet John Haines and Ennerdale (Cumbria) poet Tom Rawling and much more. And a link to the spot about Tarot history and divination which I’m broadcasting on the BBC World Service around New Year. Plus the usual wonderful pics. Thanks for your patience! Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!