Happy New Year to all our readers. We have come to the end of another challenging year in the garden centre industry and the world beyond. Climate change, credit crunch - all these negatives have impacted upon us in one way or another in the past twelve months. I wish I could predict better times for 2009 but I doubt whether you would believe me. But as it is my job to remain positive, I will point out some of the ways in which I think we can all hold our heads above water in the coming months.