Sadly, quite a few local people that I knew passed away in recent weeks; lovely people, good people without whom this world is a poorer place.

And the fact that many of them were from my generation reminded me of a saying somebody once told me: “They’re taking them from our pen now.”

If one needed any further reminder of our mortality, and the way time passes, the two-part programme about the life of the Scottish comedian Billy Connolly saw the “Big Yin” reflect candidly.

“I’m 75, I’ve got Parkinson’s Disease and I’m at the wrong end of the telescope of life,” he mused, though not morbidly.

The show itself was entertaining and very funny at times, as you would expect, but more so it gave an insight into the character of Connolly, his life and times and what made him from childhood. It made me think of the way things change, and that while some change can be good, some change that was intended for good doesn’t always turn out that way.

Old footage of the desperate slums of the tenement buildings in Glasgow included an interview with one woman who quipped: “We’ll never lack company, we’ve always got the rats” as the film showed fat rodents running about the streets where children played.

Fermanagh may not resemble inner city Glasgow, but trust me when I tell you that I recall some pretty grim housing conditions in our own county years ago.

Interestingly, Billy Connolly recalled efforts by Glasgow Council to alleviate the problems by building new houses as a “dirty trick by faceless Councilllors.”

“We were told we were living in slums and we had to go,” he said, but felt the new estates at Drumchapel were “a different kind of slum in the country.”

“We had indoor plumbing, the problem was we had f**k all else. No amenities, it was a crime to move people to a housing estate with no cinemas, theatres, cafes, shops, no churches, no schools. Just houses,” he added.

In my home town, I like to moan every now and then, the planners in the 1970s destroyed chunks of Enniskillen where housing was admittedly dire, from Wellington and along the through pass near the Castle, but particularly round “the streets” where hundreds of families lived and we now have car parks and public authority buildings. For the uninitiated, that’s the area around the library, Housing Executive etc.

If I had the power and unlimited funds, I’d flatten the lot and rebuild a whole area of social housing and get families to bring life on to the island.

In general, the answer in Enniskillen was to move out of town to places like Coleshill, Kilmacormick and Hillview. I’m glad that projects such as “The Rare ‘Oul Times” continue to tell the stories of

townspeople. It’s important that those tales of yesteryear are passed on through generations to recall the community spirit that there was in adversity.

I’m sure it was the same in rural areas; one of the great story tellers that I remember was the late Councillor John Joe McCusker who told me many a yarn about his own neighbourhood. He could tell a story vividly and with great humour, but it was also a real learning for me about life deep down in those places.

And to be fair, there are plenty of people in many areas working hard to keep communities together.

But as in Connolly’s Glasgow, you’ve got to still wonder today about the accountability of those charged with making change. To be brutally honest, I don’t get a sense from many of today’s decision makers that they are fully committed to public service in the sense of having vision and a passion to make people’s lives better.

Decisions people make have both a short-term and long-term effect. We don’t even have any decisions being made at regional level at all now, with no Assembly for over two years. So people sit in limbo when it comes to our health service waiting lists, money for basics in schools, suicide, even in domestic abuse laws where we aren’t on a par with developments which have gone ahead in Britain and the Republic. And much more.

And all that stalemate is even before we consider the absolute mess that is Brexit.

I haven’t written a column for a few weeks, and this is my first of 2019 so forgive me if I haven’t had the chance to write about the cliched New Year, New You mellarkey. But, crikey, even writing 2019 is scarey.

It’s a time for looking back in order to look forward. Looking back over the years reminds us that nostalgia can be rose-tinted because there were many issues of real poverty and social deprivation.

Then again, if we think everything is hunky dory nowadays, you’ve got to wonder about the state of things where many individuals and families continue to struggle and are ignored by the establishment.

Be careful, there are still a few rats about! People deserve better, but as is often the case people have to face the realities of life with their own spirit and the support and love of family and friends. Perhaps we forget sometimes the kindness of those close to us.

It was World Kindness Day in November and we were reminded of the importance of kindness and relationships in societal wellbeing. It’s no surprise to us in Fermanagh that surveys show that people are much kinder in rural areas. Maybe the point I made earlier about future generations being told of yesteryear’s experience will help keep the flame of community spirit going.

We remember fondly, then, the people who have passed and the mark they have made on us and our lives and our place. And we thank them for it and will never forget them.

Last January, as we entered 2018, we didn’t know what lay ahead and we had the usual mix of personal triumph and disaster, of tragedy and happiness. And we got through it.

This year will be the same, but try to think of the sign outside a church in America: “Life has no remote. Get up and change it yourself.”

Billy Connolly has lived a fantastic life, and it’s far from over. From an early age, he learned to love art and music. And people. And just life itself.

Somebody posted a poem on social media recently which I loved; Desiderata by American writer, Max Ehrmann.

Part of it reads:

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labours and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.