I'd been feeling like this for a while, the continual looking back, the stuckness of it all. I blamed it on the coming New Year, only four and a half months away, when the clocks would read zero and we would start again, could start again, but I knew we wouldn't. Nothing would. The world would be the same, just a little bit worse.

Meaning: A person who is not present can become an easy target for blame because they cannot explain or challenge the account. Be cautious about judgements made without hearing them.

Meaning: The saying places age ahead of honesty in a terse order of precedence. It can be read critically as asking whether seniority is being allowed to outweigh conduct.

Meaning: A settlement may avoid the expense and strain of a prolonged dispute. The proverb favours agreement where it is fair and workable, without making cost a reason to abandon protection, accountability or a legitimate claim.

Meaning: A small charitable gesture does not make a larger dishonest act acceptable. Consider where the benefit came from rather than letting a visible donation conceal the wrong that supplied it.