Howard's Christmas Message 2021
Howard's Christmas Message - **Please email questions for Howard about Howard for Edition 600 through the website - put "Question for Howard" in the Subject Line. Happy Christmas and New Year!
Howard's Christmas Message - **Please email questions for Howard about Howard for Edition 600 through the website - put "Question for Howard" in the Subject Line. Happy Christmas and New Year!
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Hello and a very Merry Christmas. | |
Happy New Year. | |
I'm not sure exactly when you'll get to hear this. | |
But I can tell you a little bit about where I am and what I'm doing as I record these words. | |
As you hear this, I'm recording it on Christmas Day. | |
And I'm at home. | |
It's very, very quiet all around the apartment where I live. | |
Seems that many people have gone away. | |
I went out for a walk in the park just a little while ago. | |
And there were a lot of grim-faced looking people. | |
You wouldn't believe it was Christmas Day. | |
I tried smiling at a couple. | |
Very few returned the smile. | |
I think a lot of people are just kind of preoccupied with all kinds of things this Christmas and I completely understand how they may be feeling about life in general. | |
Believe me, sometimes I feel that way too. | |
But it was interesting just to see how the world is, breathe a bit of clear air. | |
Today, as I record this, it doesn't feel like Christmas at all. | |
Christmases when I was a little kid tended to be frosty and bright, and the Christmases lately that I've had here in London have been almost spring-like temperatures, so I think it's about 11, 12, 13 Celsius today, something like 55 Fahrenheit, which was never a Christmas temperature when I was a kid. | |
It's dull and overcast and muddy underfoot. | |
And that's all I can say for it, really. | |
You know, it's a day that has come and gone. | |
I'm going to cook myself a little bit of Christmas something. | |
I've got some turkey in and something I can stick in the microwave. | |
And that's going to be me for another year. | |
And I always make this vow to myself every year. | |
Next year, I'm going to make a point of staying somewhere for Christmas, and I'm going to have dinner cooked by that place. | |
And I have to do that next year. | |
Otherwise, it's just empty and idle talk. | |
Now, looking back over the last year of The Unexplained, we've had some great guests. | |
I featured some of them on the radio show on Boxing Night. | |
And if you haven't heard that yet, then you can on their Listen Again feature. | |
So that's good. | |
I'm taking just a little bit of a break from recording podcasts at the moment, simply because this last six months, eight months or so, I've been booking them all myself. | |
It's pretty full-on with the radio show, all the ideas to come up with for that, and the guests to find for that. | |
You know, it's very much a one-man operation, all of it, really. | |
So I'm just having a couple of days to think, and I'm going to start recording podcasts as soon as I hit the ground running, very beginning of January, and we'll start feeding them out then. | |
And, you know, thank you very much for all of your support. | |
I've had lovely emails this year, and I'm still getting them in. | |
I've had some lovely Christmas wishes from people in all kinds of places, like Shirley in Canada and so many Ed in Texas and so many other people around the world. | |
Thank you very much. | |
And my friends across the United Kingdom and here in Europe, too. | |
It's been a tremendous thing to create something that has been running now for 16 years. | |
It will be in 2022. | |
That is heard and enjoyed and some people think is important to their lives all over the world. | |
I think that's just incredible, really. | |
It is a lovely, lovely thing. | |
And I do my best with it. | |
I'm not going to hit the mark for everybody. | |
Sometimes I'll get an email saying, I hate you. | |
I hate your show. | |
So all I can say to them is if it's making you that angry, turn it off. | |
I would never let something make me angry like that. | |
I don't think anything would really. | |
I don't see TV and radio content in that way. | |
If I don't like something, I hit the off switch. | |
But quite often I let things run because even if I don't like a guest or a style of drama that I'm watching, I think, well, maybe I'm going to learn something from this. | |
That's kind of how I think about it. | |
Every so often, you get those emails. | |
And to those people, if what I'm doing has annoyed you at times, you've got to just turn it off. | |
It's much better for your health, I think, that you do that. | |
But by and large, I think we're making progress. | |
What do you think? | |
Always grateful for guest suggestions, your thoughts on the show, of course, and for the online show, the donations gratefully received. | |
If you haven't made a donation, please do consider doing that. | |
The website is theunexplained.tv. | |
You can go there and follow the link and do that. | |
And of course, if you're not able to do that, I totally understand. | |
You know, I've been there myself and I'm always skirting that position myself where I couldn't afford to do anything, you know, extraneous. | |
I completely understand, just enjoy the shows. | |
So, lots of things likely in 2022. | |
I'll know the future of the radio show. | |
I'll find out about that, the way that that might develop. | |
And also, I've got some plans for the online operation. | |
It's time for that. | |
And I think, in a way, health crises in the nation allowing, you know, I think it's time for all of us to march forward in this year. | |
I feel, I don't know about you, like I've been in some kind of limbo for two years now. | |
And it's time to break out. | |
I want to see places again. | |
I want to connect with the world. | |
And I've become, maybe you have as well if you've been doing your work at home and stuff like that. | |
I've become a bit reclusive other than the people I have to have connection with for work. | |
I don't see anybody. | |
And I think all of us in that situation have got to review it in 2022, if we can, and make a change. | |
I think that's important. | |
And who knows, what we move into may be better. | |
You know, I'm not going to set up any hostages to fortune. | |
I've given up doing that. | |
But you never know. | |
So here I am quietly, cup of black coffee in my hand. | |
I am going to treat myself. | |
I bought some Irish whiskey. | |
So when I've finished recording this, I'm going to just tip a little bit of Irish whiskey in this coffee. | |
And I'm going to sit back and enjoy the silence. | |
And take a look out of the window, just have a look at the trees, and kind of give some thought to 2022. | |
And also give some thought to those who've passed before. | |
Maybe you've lost people over this last year, or maybe this is a time of year when you remember people who've gone. | |
I remember my wonderful mum and dad who used to make the most incredible Christmases for Beryl, my sister, and myself when we were kids. | |
And personally, you know, when I was a kid, I was too busy playing with my toys. | |
When I was older, I was too busy with my career. | |
I didn't really notice the sheer volume of work they put into Christmas. | |
And, you know, I should have thanked Them more than I did because I know from friends that putting Christmas on, if you've got other people involved in it, is not an easy thing to do. | |
So, the amount of stress my parents went through, putting Christmas on for my sister and me, it must have been enormous. | |
And I wish I could discuss that with them today, but I can't. | |
So, look, if you're looking back as I'm looking back, we can look back together and I share your feeling. | |
So, at the end of all of this, the unexplained continues. | |
I'm still here, 16 years on, going into 2022 with plans for it. | |
I wish you well across this holiday season and through the new year that's to come. | |
Thank you for being my friend and for being part of this. | |
Thank you to Adam, my webmaster, for being by my side on this one all the time and doing the things that I simply don't understand. | |
So thanks, Adam. | |
Thank you to you. | |
Take care. | |
All the best. |