Happy New Year!

And for those who haven’t read it – or would like to read it again – the short story to cure all hangovers, A New Year’s Drink:

“I hate New Year,” Señor Alvarez grumbled, as he struggled to uncork yet another bottle of wine. “It’s always the same. People I haven’t seen since God was a boy waltz through the door making out they shop here all year round. They pick up a loaf, promise to pay me at the end of the month, and think that entitles them to a glass of free wine.”

The grocer’s grandfather had always marked the first day of each New Year by inviting customers to a tipple. His father’s blind adherence to the practise had made it a family tradition. An extravagant and wasteful family tradition its latest heir felt powerless to change.

“Half of them I don’t even recognise,” he said. “Who was that shifty-looking bloke with the creepy eyes who just came in? Read More

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