HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!

So out goes the Year of our Lord 2010 and in comes 2011. And for me it's been the usual mixed bag, with nothing exceptional or outstanding, or put another way, it's been no great shakes. But, having said that, it hasn't been a bad year either. There have been some good moments and some not so good moments and very few downright bad moments. In some ways it has been less than I had hoped for and in other ways it has produced some unexpected welcome outcomes. I've had bust-ups and knock-backs but also some worthwhile new encounters. But no demises and no sad losses. I would have liked it to be better but it could have been much worse. In matters of the heart, it's been a bit disappointing but nothing that cannot be remedied with a little more effort on my part. There is still all to play for, as they say, and I have expectations of the coming year, hoping that what proved unattainable in 2010 will be more amenable in 2011. Only time will tell.

I have learnt some lessons from the past twelve months and I go into the new year on a changed course, a new tack. I only hope for a favourable wind to fill my sails and take me forward. I'm at an age where I have no illusions about what life has to offer in general and what it is likely to offer me in particular. And, like most people, I nurture hope in my breast and I have dreams in my head and, health and fate permitting, I look to fulfil them in the coming months and years, be it in full or in part, at least while I still have a pulse! In fact, though it may seem paradoxical, partial fulfilment is preferable to total achievement, as the former allows scope for more and serves as a spur to greater effort, as well as enabling us to dream on. And when all's said and done, that is the stuff of life... hopes and dreams. When we have neither the one nor the other, we may as well lie down and die!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

Christmas now gone



The traditional image of Christmas


And so another Christmas comes to an end and we head for the new year. For the moment decorations will stay up, the Xmas tree keeps its place, and the Christmas atmosphere still holds sway. And what went up for Christmas will do just as well for the New Year's celebrations, marking once again the transition from one calendar year to another.

When I was a lad I could hardly wait for Christmas to come round. Now I'm more grown-up than I'd like to be and Christmases seem to come and go all too quickly in rapid succession. But there it is, there's nothing to be done. It's part of the rhythm of life.

This year's Christmas has come in the middle of an economic downturn, with a gloomy forecast of what we can expect in the coming year, and with high unemployment and huge cutbacks in social services and state investment. Amid the usual Christmas cheer and partying, there is fear of what the future holds and the financial austerity that lies ahead.

For all that, my local supermarket is always chock-full of shoppers when I go and the end-of-year sales have drawn the usual stampedes of frenetic bargain-hunters. But that may be just an anomaly. No doubt I'm not taking all the socio-economic factors into consideration. No doubt. Still...

Anyway, I will leave it there. After all, this post was just an excuse to put up a pretty Christmassy scene: snow, snow-man, Christmas tree, sparkling lights, a brilliant star, and the warm glow of houses in the background... you know the stuff. All very pretty, peaceful and perfect!

In the Grip of Winter

Scene through the trees

Days short and cold, nights long and colder. White snow and grey ice on all sides. Chilly winds blowing hither and thither. Gloomy skies end to end. Sun a distant memory. Warmth a distant feeling. That in short may be the winter that lies before us. I dare say there will be days when the sun will pay us a brief and diffident visit, but it will not linger and it will not warm. It will be essentially a visual thing, but its appearance will nevertheless be welcome. It will be a ray of sunshine in a bleak and foreboding winter's landscape. And the sky might even turn from its now dirty grey to a clear cheery blue. Something to remind us of the all-too short summer which never fails to disappoint at these latitudes in spite of the global warming which is apparently upon us. It would seem that the more we are threatened with global warming, the colder it gets in this part of the globe! No doubt the boffins can explain this in suitably scientific language. Whatever the case, last year's winter was harsh and this year's winter promises to be harsher still. As a child I loved the snow and was not much bothered by the cold. Now, many moons removed from childhood, I cannot cope so easily and I would rather be sweating than shivering, though I dislike both. Yet, for all that, there is a certain wondrous quality about snow that leaves children open-mouthed and impresses itself upon grown-ups, be it favourably or unfavourably.

White lies the green field now

For my part, I love to watch snow coming down and I love to see it blanketing everything and I marvel at the eerie silence it creates. It may be an oft-repeated truism that it creates a magical scene, but it is none the less true. What I don't much care for is a snowfall that is of short duration, falls mainly at night when we're all abed and quickly turns to ice and slush the following day, which frankly is just a nuisance and little else; in other words, when we get all the inconvenience of it without any of the beauty, harsh though this beauty may be. In such an instance, I would rather not have it at all! Either it snows 'properly' or it should not snow at all! That's how I look upon it. No half measures, thank you. But this is what it tends to be here down south. More a token snowfall. No doubt those in other parts of the country who have more than their fair share of the stuff and where it lingers for days, if not weeks, on end, would chastise me for my levity and shallowness, but there it is. Still, the winter is yet young and we may yet get our sustained snow and sustained chaos and I may yet have cause to eat my shallow words!

Return of the Big Chill

Fountain frozen over in icy cold weather

This was Trafalgar Square in London at the beginning of this year 2010, the fountains frozen over and an icy cold gripping everything, and this will doubtless be the scene again before the year is out. It has already snowed across large swathes of the country, mostly to the north and west, but the cold snap is already making itself felt in the rest of the country, snow or no snow. Its accomplices are sleet, frost and ice and its after-effects are the widespread disruption to transport services. And this has already occurred on the roads, railways and at airports. It can only get worse as winter sets in and icy blasts from the north sweep across the land, freezing everything up. There's a certain desolate majesty in this picture of the iced-up fountain, the play of the lights on its surface and the lit-up art gallery buildings in the background, but make no mistake, it's not where you want to be as day gives way to dusk and the deserted square succumbs to the unremitting all-embracing chill. The few brave souls that venture out for one reason or another will not linger in the open for long. An eerie silence descends upon the Square and a bitter chill takes hold. It's going to be a long bone-chilling night.

A new day dawns with a blanket of snow

Daylight brings some slight relief from the piercing icy chill of the night and the mood lightens. Everywhere is a picture-postcard scene of a snow-white landscape painted by Nature's brush. Beautiful it is, but its beauty belies the harshness of its nature and its effects. As for the phone booth in the picture, how quaint does that look? Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, rising out of the ground in all its brash redness, it somehow manages to introduce a reassuring note of security in an otherwise unremittingly white wilderness, with its promise of instant communication. Friends, family and emergency services are just a phone-call away should one get into difficulties on the road. Now how useful this is in a world where only new-born babes don't have a mobile phone, I don't know, but I rather suspect this red phallic symbol is more ornamental than utilitarian. More a throw-back to a bygone era than a practical modern communication option, it stands there defiant in all weathers, refusing to acknowledge the ubiquitous existence of the cellphone! And offering at the very least the sanctuary of its shelter as well as a phone service, assuming of course it hasn't been vandalised! Still, call me a soppy sentimentalist if you will, but I'd rather have it there than not.