Ooookay people…for those of you supposing that the above title should read ‘The ‘New Year’ Blog and not as it does, a quick explanation might be in order.
First up I have always thought that an outgoing year that has been a ‘bit of a bitch’ so to speak will not suddenly be changed by the onset of January the 1st and those fading strains of Auld Lang Syne that historically accompany the advent of a New Year. Neither will one that hasn’t.
Other false positives include the weather which, unless you are a skateboarder, snow sculptor, or contemplating a course on igloo building is not a month to be embraced in this sense either. Then, of course, there are all those resolutions to identify and make, even though, you know that most of them will be something you don’t wish to talk about well in advance of February the 1st.
Don’t even get me started on the continuing manipulation of the marketeers who, not content with focusing their efforts on parting us from our hard-earned shilling back in September, in anticipation of Christmas, then go on to ensure that by the 2nd January we are aware that Easter lies in wait to ransack what little might be left in our pockets.
The supermarket shelves are quickly and cynically re-lined with large expensive boxes with plastic blister packs containing a minimum amount of egg-shaped chocolate which, if purchased, in early January is guaranteed to be out of date by Easter. Perhaps Greta Thunberg who, not unreasonably, in my opinion, advocates for kinder treatment of our fragile planet, even though I think her attacks on the causes of the damage thus far are often ill-advised, should write to the manufacturers of these unnecessary monstrosities. Though I fully appreciate that this low key action will not garner anywhere near as much publicity as her tear-stained rant at Donald Trump, and will probably achieve just about as much.
There is one itsy bitsy positive that becomes evident though in January and is virtually imperceptive at first as the daylight hours begin to gradually extend towards the promise of spring.
For me, spring is really the season most worthy of my excited anticipation. The emergence of all those gorgeous trumpets of sunny yellow daffodils and as yet unfurled leaves sprouting on tree branches excite me far more than the onset of any ‘New years day’. Such is my excitement about the prospect of all those obvious new beginnings that we can see take place all around us, and which I hope to emulate for myself, prepares me to tolerate the earliest part of any New Year.
I love the picture at the top of this article…daffodil wine glasses…does it get any better? The idea that you can appear to imbibe an actual daffodil, a world-renowned symbol of renewal from something designed to drink alcohol, makes me want to gambol like a spring lamb, if not only because doing so like a spring chicken is both grammatically incorrect and in my case physically impossible.
The chances are that the start of any ‘New Year’ will not result in many changes to the year that preceded it, even though we are societally conditioned to think that it might and this can lead to disappointment. How often do we say things like ‘this year will be our year’ as we raise those glasses aloft on New Year’s Eve? and whatever that phrase actually means…how often are we right?
Spring is altogether a different prospect coming as it does with its own air of new beginnings that don’t demand that we should make them, but gently suggests that we could. Even the word spring denotes a type of positive forward motion, whereas ‘New’ could be applied to a pimple that you have only just discovered the presence of.
Spring is where it is at people, and I await every little sign of its arrival with all the excitable interest of a twitcher in a hide, if for different reasons. In just a few short weeks a world of new opportunities will, in my mind at least, start to open up alongside those gorgeous yellow daffodils.
Talking about all things yellow…my book
The Funny Thing About Being a Widow?
a very, as yet, little known but splendidly yellow creation is available now on amazon.co.uk and people can sign up to my blogs here on sandraemanning.com or follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.
Anyone who might be interested in doing a guest blog can send me an e-mail with your ideas via the contact page here and maybe we can share some lovely new ideas in time for spring?
Love this blog Sandra. Daffodils were Jim’s favourite flower and mine too. I must get me a daffodil wine glass!
I remember Den…I thought of you when I saw the glasses!! xxxxx