And forgive us our muttered platitudes,

As we forgive those that mutter platitudes to the wrong sky fairies,
(or the wrong platitudes to the right sky fairy).

My radio listening habits normally exclude any religious performances, as carefully as my televisual habits avoid soaps, but this morning I was caught out by the Christmas excess on Radio 4, and heard a blessing or two and what passes for the Lord's Prayer these days.

In my infancy, we were taught the Lord's Prayer, with the older words. We didn't understand all the words and we certainly didn't understand the full meaning. It passed for a mantra, some comforting words to be repeated while we could have otherwise been counting to 20. We came to realise that the local land-owners were not Christian, as they evidently had no intention of forgiving any trespassers; we perhaps learned that adults say things they can't explain, a God in three parts, and all the rest.

I am older now and much more cynical. The new words sound merely banal, but then I expect the entire service would have made the same impression.

I am an adult. I take responsibility for my own actions, I can construct a plausible explanation for the sum of time and chemistry producing intelligent life. There are enough mysteries, without believing in fairies. I cannot fathom the thoughts of friends and colleagues who profess religious belief.

Are you feeling lucky?

Once again, the fake Austrian fir tree has descended from the loft, been unpacked and erected. Still in the loft are the twin set of white lights that were bought at the same time as the tree. In the dining room are the coloured lights that were bought 4 years ago to replace the increasingly unreliable white lights.

The coloured lights live in the box with the tree, neatly folded and packed in their original packaging. sliding off the plastic sleeve causes them to spring out, to tumble and tangle a bit. Then, the annual question; are you feeling lucky? To test the lights before decorating the tree or not? This year - not. They worked anyway. It made my day.