Yes, it’s that time in between Christmas and New Year when not much happens – I’m still on holiday, too tired to do anything interesting, and with nothing specific to celebrate.

So I’ve done a wee bit of shopping, some catching up with friends and family in the near area, some taking of photos, and that’s about it.

Besides that, my mind has also been on mackerel.

One of my favourite factoids is that there is only one name on the London Underground map that has none of the letters from the word “mackerel” in it: St John’s Wood. And there is only one team from the top four divisions of English football with the same characteristic: Swindon Town. They are great brain teasers for dinner parties.

The other day, however, I’ve discovered some more mackerel factoids. Macktoids, if you will. Or perhaps facterels.

Anyway. Can you name the one US state, the one element from the periodic table, and the three independent countries of the world, none of which contain any letters from the word “mackerel”?

I’ll let you to stew over that for a couple of days (no cheating by using Google!), and leave you with my final thought of the day – it comes from a fridge magnet I saw today with a picture of a sunbeam in the style of those cheesy “meaning of life” inspirational cards, and the words:

“What if the Hokey Cokey really is what it’s all about?”