January 2026 - New Year News from No.fifty6 in this 110th Anniversary Year
Posted on 31st January 2026 by Julie and David Thomson in General News.
January brings with it the promise of new beginnings, and we certainly hope 2026 is a good one for all the No.fifty6 community. As we say in France to anyone we meet in January - Meilleurs Voeux et surtout Bon Sante! Best wishes and above all good health.
The weather this month has been very mixed, but always wintry. We have had snow, mist, rain, winds, storms and an occasional blue-sky day. One of the things we love is that we do get all 4 seasons here and it has definitely been winter this January. The cover photo shows Gordon Dump Cemetery in our recent snow.
As we have few guests in January, it is a time we have to cocoon but also to get out and walk the landscape and discover new things – and even do some training! More on that later. David says it is the best time to see the historic landscape as the contours and topography are clearly visible.
The farmers continue to work, ploughing, seeding, and already some areas have a green thin coat, new life emerging. Others have a rich deep brown of furrows of life-giving soil. The betterave (sugar beet) piles wait to be collected with their white tarpaulins making them look like exhausted dragons from a Game of Thrones set.
As we reflect on this January our thoughts can’t help but turn to how much discord there is in the world right now. How misinformation creates division. How lust for power takes us close to where we were in darker historical times. But rather than despair, we try in our own little way to bring peace and kindness where we can. And rather than a poem this month, following a very moving visit to the New Zealand Liberation Museum, these quotes spoke to us:
