Karen Koren: Work is as good as a rest

We celebrated New Year’s Eve in the dark, at Bill Bailey’s house. The power went off at five to midnight, so there was lots of candlelight and guessing the time as we approached the countdown.

Dax Bailey, Bill’s son was running around with lit tea-lights, acting like the fire starter. All a bit worrying. I managed to rescue the lid of a box of chocolates that was sitting on a lit tea-light before we all went up in smoke.

We then managed to sing Auld Lang Syne with only me knowing more than one verse. I was very loud, making sing-songs the order of the rest of the night.

Bill played his guitar and I sang along... mostly, I sang the wrong song, and sang every song as if it was La Bamba. I got shouted at quite a lot, then the youngsters would sing the correct song. Still I was very happy when I was told that I actually could sing... not sure if they were kidding.

One of the guests was Mark Lamarr, of Never Mind the Buzzcocks fame. It was lovely to catch up with him again, such a nice man. When the loud singing started, he retreated to the quiet of the outside smoking space.

Being at Bill’s was like spending the celebrations on the set of Wuthering Heights, at no time could we see the sea or the countryside, as the mist was so thick.

There was also constant drizzle or rain. It was impossible to go for any kind of walk as it was permanently dark, misty and very wet. So we were inside for two days, playing games, doing jigsaws and eating and drinking.

It was very relaxing, but too much of a good thing and I was happy to get back home.

Though I would have stayed away if I had known these winds were going to tear at the foundations of my house and that every piece of litter for miles around was going to end up in my garden.

I need to get back to work for a rest.