With the New Year still only a few days old, am I allowed a couple of grouches as opposed to resolutions?

With the kind of weather we’ve been having, I went down with a severe cold and an even worse cough just a couple of days before the New Year. My doctor, that worthy man, prescribed Muciclar capsules, an apparently common patent remedy. Wonder of wonders, five pharmacists in my area, Ta’ l-Ibraġ, told me the item was out of stock.

This is a common remedy, so one would have thought the local agents would stock up on supplies in preparation for the flu season.

No such luck.

Another grouch. Browsing through an English paper, the Daily Express of December 19, I came across an advertisement for home insurance, which stated that 10 per cent of new customers paid £95 or less for buildings and contents combined. And this company was chosen by Which? magazine as Insurance Provider of the Year, no less.

Am I being taken for a ride?

Happy New Year, everyone.