Special - Happy Christmas
A message to you from Howard at Christmas 2020...
A message to you from Howard at Christmas 2020...
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Hello again, it's Howard in London at the home of the unexplained. | |
www.theunexplained.tv. | |
Do you know at the end of this year, I can't even remember whether people are still saying www or not. | |
I think we probably know that. | |
Anyway, theunexplained.tv. | |
So what I'm doing at the moment is I'm sitting here 24 hours before Christmas, just thinking about the way this year has gone, and thinking about how the podcast has gone and the other things that I've done, and how life has changed pretty fundamentally since this year began. | |
You know, I can remember, and I'm sure you're just the same, what things were like in February. | |
And we knew that this virus was coming, but I don't think any of us thought that it was coming to where we lived, and none of us thought that it would be as problematic as it's turned out to be. | |
And the story is not told yet, I don't think. | |
So in February, I can remember taking a trip. | |
And I don't do much these days, and I should do more in the new year when we can. | |
I got on a train. | |
I went to Richmond, southwest London, a place that I've known and loved for all of my life, really. | |
Even when I was in Liverpool, I used to come down and visit it. | |
And I sat on a clear day in February, looking at the river. | |
It wasn't too cold and thinking, well, I wonder what I'm going to do with this year. | |
And all of the plans came to a startling, shuddering halt a month later. | |
Suddenly, we're in lockdown. | |
So we've sort of amalgamated the production process that I have for the podcast and the radio show goes out from the same place. | |
It's all very low budget, but over all of these years it seemed to work. | |
But over this time, maybe like you too, I don't know, I've got used to not really going very far from home. | |
I think the maximum I do is about three miles to go and get some shopping if I go to the big Sainsbury supermarket or wherever I go. | |
And that's more or less apart from three days in Bournemouth this year, in September, when things were a little easier. | |
Than I've done. | |
And our lives have changed so much. | |
I'll tell you what, though, I have learned a great deal. | |
I've learned about how you do recordings. | |
And I think from that point of view, the time that I've had here to do that has been great for giving me focus. | |
Would I want to repeat 2020? | |
Would you want to repeat 2020? | |
I think that question probably answers itself, doesn't it? | |
But we're all hoping that human ingenuity, medical science, and all the rest of it rides to our rescue in 2021. | |
I can't even believe that I'm saying 2021. | |
2021 to me sounds like science fiction. | |
You know, something that happens in the year of 2021, but it's here, very nearly. | |
So the point of all of this is just to say thank you very much for the increasing number of communications that I'm getting from you, for the great feedback that I'm getting. | |
You keep me on the right path. | |
And sometimes when I'm feeling very down and low about it all, you stand me up again. | |
You know, you push me into the bus shelter and you send me off again. | |
So thank you for that. | |
Thank you for being my friend. | |
A lot of you have told me how difficult this year has been for you, some people not working as much as they did, which is a story for a lot of us. | |
Some people not working at all now and having to get by. | |
And of course the inevitable stories because it's the way that life sadly works of people who are not here at this time of this year, who were here at this time last year. | |
So the cycle of life goes. | |
So for me, sitting in the quietness in it's actually evening time now, so it's dark, and I've just got a little tiny light bulb burning near me, I just wanted to say thank you for being part of this. | |
If you have ideas for how I can improve the show in the new year, if there are things that you think I should be doing, then it's always nice to hear that. | |
It's just nice to hear your stories, really. | |
And if you have a story that you would like me to tell on the show or you want to tell it yourself, then it would also be nice to hear from you. | |
So the bottom line of all of this talking is just to say, I hope that you're getting by wherever in the world you are. | |
Thank you for your friendship and your support over this last year of 2020, that I think by the time we get to the middle of 2021, we are just going to want to forget. | |
And we're going to do some more things in this new year. | |
Got a lot of guests planned, a lot of ideas for the show, and forward we march. | |
And 2021 will be, how many years since I started the podcast, 2006? | |
They say do the math. | |
Gee, 15 years. | |
It'll be the 15th anniversary of the unexplained. | |
So we have places to go, people to see, and things to do, all of us in this new year. | |
So if you're hearing this around about Christmas time, happy Christmas. | |
If Christmas has passed, happy new year. | |
And thank you for your support. | |
Let's keep it cranking on with the Unexplained in 2021. | |
My name is Howard Hughes. | |
Always will be. | |
Take care. |