2020 currently is very three orientated. My football team got beat three nil at home. They had to use up all three substitutes before half time because of injuries. Then quickly found out that three substitutes was not enough as another player had to go off due to injury as well.

I got three bills in the post today.

I phoned up for a Doctors appointment and was told I had to wait three weeks for the first available slot.

Currently I am missing 3 running socks. Paddington Bear Stare towards Captain Chaos. So for my next run I can choose between a red running sock or a blue running sock or a white running sock. I think the red and blue combo with be best.

We have three gerbils. They are super friendly and also rather fascinating. If I could ask the three chaps (hope they are three of the same sex) one question it would be

Why when I put cardboard and wooden tunnels in your cage do you always put the smaller tube inside a larger one. Even when I put them on opposite ends of the cage why does one end up in the other within a few minutes.

As my gerbil vocabulary is so poor I guess I will never find out the answer to this first burning question of 2020. But I can’t leave this post on such a unresolvable cliffhanger. Apologies for the early contender for the most rubbish link of the year. As I’ve got over my initial New Years Blues and in the absence of an answer from the three rodents maybe it’s time for a few lists of three from 2019.

3 Biggest Fears that came true

• School giving up on son
• Boris Johnson becoming PM
• Governments/The U.N. paying lip service and kicking into the long grass the momentum for change generated by the likes of Greta Thunberg

Best books read

• Jean Lee – Nights Tooth
• Stephen King – The Institute
• Blake Crouch – Recursion

Best 3 movies of 2019

• Avengers End Game
• Horrible Histories – The Movie
• Godzilla

Best 3 concerts

• Alter Bridge/Shinedown
• Kiss
• Lynyrd Skynyrd

Best 3 albums

• Alter Bridge – Walk the Sky
• The Hu – The Gereg
• Whitesnake – Flesh & Blood

Best 3 places visited

• Kielder Water
• Housesteads Roman Fort
• North Yorkshire Moors Railway

3 Most helpful bits of advice from 2019 – kind of

• Maybe bring your dog back when he’s calmed down a wee bit – dog training school
• Just needs to work a bit harder to improve his spelling and handwriting – teacher
• Lager is better for your teeth than lemon water – Dentist

Best 3 things which helped our son

• Setting a goal for the number of new places to be visited
• Rock music and concerts
• Catching balls while bouncing on a trampoline

Craziest 3 things the pets did

• Muddy paw prints on the ceiling – how is that possible
• Boy Cat getting the award for being the biggest and heaviest cat on the Vets books
• Captain Chaos burying one of my running shoes in the garden. Took me weeks to find it.