fruitless dithering

(sigh) does anyone know how to make gravy?
We roasted a chicken today. In a moment of joie de vivre, I said I'll make the gravy, I know how to make gravy!
I don't know how to make gravy.
I 'threw' in a little wine and 'tossed' in a little flour (I mean how hard can it be) to the pan juices and got a grey, congealed mass of boiling lumpiness.
We had Bisto.

I also wrote a Christmas Newsletter. I mean, we've had quite a year, we've moved country and had a baby, people want to know about this sort of thing, don't they? But I re-read it and by the third paragraph I was overcome with the cheesiness of the whole exercise. And this is partly the point of the blog, to avoid such a cheese mountain.
The letter was deleted.

Not a productive day.