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As days-of-the-week-on-which-to-turn-40 go Wednesday is perhaps the least desirable. Insufficiently close to the beginning or end of of the week to turn it into a long weekend, and I'm not quite narcissistic enough to take the whole week off. Instead I thought a pleasant mid-week day off would suffice and, happily, it did.

I had some plans, some of which changed slightly on the day. The extended cycle ride along the river front was replaced by an stroll along the river front abbreviated by Eggs Benedict and coffee at Deep Water Point. Pretentiously reading Breakfast At Tiffany's in Kings Park ran into problems when I forgot to bring the book, but a hastily purchased copy of The Great Gatsby was a suitable alternative. The trip to Ikea was unavoidable but the fates smiled on me and I manged to get in and out without feeling the slightest bit homicidal. Chocolate from Subiaco, wine from Applecross, pre-prepared dinner from Mount Pleasant all went according to plan and I was back in time to get Ben from school.

I mentioned to mum that the day had been very relaxing. She replied that it was in stark contrast to the day she had 40 years ago.

Normally at Christmas time this is what happens. We write all of the Christmas cards, promising that we will write a letter to go in each one. Time runs out and we end up sticking the cards in the post at the last possible moment, without the letters.

This year we did it differently. We wrote the letter, then time ran out before we had written the Christmas cards and we ended up not sending anything at all. Disaster.

So to all of you of were kind enough to send us cards this year we're sorry for the un-festive silence. Next Christmas we'll be back to our usual routine.

So 2008 wasn't a great year for blog entries, but it was bursting with action in other regards. Here's a quick run-down

• HarvestRoad, for whom I have been working since 2002, sold its business and a dozen of its employees to an Italian publishing house.
• My job changed a lot.
• We moved office.
• We moved office again.
• Things got back to normal.

It was a mental work year, mostly as a result of all the things that happen when a company creates a new subsidiary. Happily we kept producing software throughout the changes and are just testing the first major release since 2006.

Somewhere along the way Ben grew another six inches, Jasper contracted (and is now in remission from) a type of cancer to which retrievers are susceptible, Eve kept everything running smoothly and I got my first (and second) iPod.

Helped along by a birthday present bike I started to exercise, first only on a weekly basis and now several times a week. Right now I am about a kilo heavier than I was this time last year...