ACROSS THE BRIDGE, JUMP INTO THE NEW, FIRE MONKEY STYLE

Close your eyes and see the smiling giggling memories, my friend Rhianna advises when I bemoan the fates that brought me away from sunshine to the house of needles. 

Let me try... 

Breathing in, I see... a beach in Bali where boats sail over clouds and children draw whales on sand...

Breathing out, I see myself, in different shades of light and dark...

making up stories for little girls who want to be princesses and brave knights...

making memories with grown up women who are princesses and brave knights...

In an English kitchen my niece Ellie dances to her own shadow... out there in the sun, in a different time, my nephew Rafi shouts, 'Jump, Aunty Shai, jump!' 

It's the year of the fire monkey according to Chinese astrological principles. I'm not sure what that entails exactly, but it sounds energetic and adventurous, neither of which I feel now that I am back in England. But I always try to listen to Raf... I kicked off the new year by jumping into a pool at midnight. I think the fire monkey god would have approved...