Tis the season to be Solly

There are the equivalent of eight Celebration-size Snickers in one full size Snickers bar. So why does one feel so much guiltier scoffing eight of the little ones than when eating a normal one? And no, I am not one of those old gits who still calls them Marathons. You know who you are!
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There is an obvious sadness when a friend dies, a different remote kind of sadness when it is an older, more distant relative and a strange, nostalgic sadness when it is a combination of both.
The mother of my oldest friend died yesterday. She was old and had suffered from Alzheimer's for years so it is one of those occasions where the immediate family felt a genuine sense of relief.
Although I hadn't seen her for many, many years and I have less than regular contact with the friend I have known since I was two years old, it still hit me when he rang to tell me.
It wasn't one of those teary conversations nor one of those where two grown men desperately try to show how manly they are. It was calm, matter of fact with a tinge of 'do you remember' thrown in.
Besides, I was in the middle of Epping Forest with the dog, it was raining and although you think you know the best things to say in such circumstances, the truth is you don't.
Charlie was the first child I met when my mum and dad bought their first house and we moved out of my grandparents' home. He lived across the road so we were forever in each other's houses, playing in the street or cycling to Valentine's Park.
My mum and his mum - Hilda, now there's a name from a different generation - looked after us while the other worked and took us to and from school.
So, in effect, I grew up with her. Charlie's dad died when he was seven or eight so she brought him up on her own, while holding down a full time job. Not the kind of thing you're aware of as a kid.
Even though Charlie lives the other side of town and does odd things like supports Arsenal, votes Conservative and doesn't live in debt like any normal person, and though we just about manage to see each other twice a year and speak now and again in between, your oldest friend is your oldest friend no matter what.
As we used to say in Gants Hill - I wish you long life Andrew 'Charlie' Mendelson.
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I missed Dr Who, I haven't seen or read any of the Harry Potter books or films and I'll skip the Sky Premier of Avatar thanks. After all it's just Dances With Wolves in blue paint. And the important thing is, they're for children and I'm 48 years old.
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It's not a resolution as such but next year I'm going to do more. Not work (though that's changing for me in many ways) but fun. My wife worked 50 weeks last year and I didn't do much less - although how much I actually work in that time is debatable. So I'm already booked to see two operas in the next couple of months, a One Day International at the Oval in the summer, Brian Wilson at the Festival Hall next September, a few days in Segovia with the missus, the Guineas meeting at Newmarket, a week in Scotland in the summer and I've joined the British Film Institute.
In between I hope to catch up with old friends so look out! - all the best, Solly