2021: At year's end.......

 

So that's Christmas out of the way.  Considering in the run up I had absolutely no interest in it this year, it was pretty good and I enjoyed it.  The weather helped - proper Christmas weather, very cold, a decent bit of snow, but lots of sunshine and blue sky so that walking the dog was a pleasure rather than a chore.  I can remember the odd Christmas like it when I was a kid - I think, but I could be hallucinating - and certainly the first few I celebrated here in Poland were like this.  Climate change has made a nonsense of that for the last few years, and we've walked to Mass or driven to relatives in warmer, wet and windy weather instead. The new normal, I guess, with this year the exception.

Anyway, it was quiet and we spent it at home.  No visitors this year, just we four, plus Lulu the dog and Jazzy the cat, and it was cool.  We ate well, made the effort to dress formally (that is, for me, suit and white shirt and tie), watched the mandatory wall to wall Minions movies, and Fast & Furious, and You've Got Mail, plus local movies with a vague Yuletide theme, and just.....relaxed.  We managed to forget about all the Covid stuff, and the mess the governments of my homeland and my adopted country are making of things.  I even managed to put the depression and continuing discomfort in my arm to one side and feel......happy.  First time for a while.

-----------------------------------------------------------

So with the New Year looming large, I'm not going to look back.  This year was not much different to last year - which is to say, pretty crap - and catching Covid and buggering my arm and everything that has followed on from that really made it worse still (at least from a personal perspective).  I shan't be sorry to see the back of it.

I no longer make New Year resolutions, on the basis that they never lasted more than a week and left me feeling a bit guilty when I inevitably broke them.  So when I was I think 18 or 19, I resolved to stop making them - and voila!  I've kept that one ever since, 50 odd years.  Simple really. So I'm going to carry that on and just get on with my life without making rash decisions that I'll never be able to live up to.  Sure, there are targets - weight to lose, worry less, sleep better, laugh more, spend more time with my Beloved, do more things that I want to do rather than have to do - but nothing I intend to hold myself (or anyone else) accountable for.

But I do have some wishes.  I guess World Peace, an end to poverty, clear and definitive progress on ending the climate and Covid crises, and a good bit less abuse and fake news nonsense on social media are probably a bit too much to ask for for one year - but, hey, Mankind, you can do it if you really really put your collective mind to it (but I'm not holding my breath).  

I hope and believe we will be in a better place this time next year, at least as far as the Pandemic is concerned, because there seems to be a more concerted effort globally to beat it than any of the other things wrong with this planet.  Too many governments are still not taking climate change seriously enough.  Too many people (from government down) are too selfish to do much about poverty.  Nobody who posts bad stuff on social and gets a kind of sado-masochistic kick out of doing it and pissing people off cares about that, and the harm it can (and does) cause is beyond their imaginations.  So none of it is likely to happen any time soon because human nature right now won't let it.  The changes needed take time, it's evolution, always a slow crawl, when we need a sprint.

So my wishes are of a more personal nature:

• I wish continued health and happiness to my elderly sisters as they continue through their ninth decade.  I hope to God I'm as fit at their age!
• I pass every good wish for 2022 to my various cousins and nieces and nephews scattered all over the world, in England, in Australia and in Canada, some of whom I haven't seen for forty years or more.  Stay safe and stay healthy and happy, all of you.
• I want my sons and their partners and my grandkids - I love them all to bits! - health, wealth and happiness in everything they do. I have no doubt they will rise to whatever challenges they face and win, because it's what they do. I'm proud of them.
• I want my younger two to study hard and do well at school, but still find the time to be kids and have fun, make memories for themselves.  And stay safe!  And keep smiling and making me laugh!
• I want my Beloved to stay as fit and healthy and strong as she is, and know that we love her more than she realizes sometimes.  She is my rock and we forget ourselves too often, put others' needs before our own: we must make time for ourselves, together.

For myself: well, mainly I want to get through 2022 without breaking anything or catching anything. I'm fed up with not being right, physically and mentally, and my biggest challenge is to get out of this funk that I've been stuck in for the best part of three years now.  People have remarked how I've changed, and I have.  It would be easy to pass it off as simply growing older, but it's not just that.  There is more to it that I need to understand and fix.  I need to smile and laugh more, to stop getting angry and frustrated all the time at the stupidest, piddly little thing.  That is simply not me.

I need to find myself again, and not let go.

---------------------------------------------------------------

This blog is a way to help me do that.  Instead of venting my anger and sharing my joys and interests and frustrations on my nearest and dearest I can do it here, and perhaps entertain you at the same time.  The last few months, there has been an uptick in page views and a few decent discussions, and I thank all of you who have joined in for contributing your time and thoughts.  I ask you to continue that support, and spread the word, get other people - your own Friends and Families - to join in the conversation.  There is no financial gain for me, n

or loss for anyone joining in - as I think The Guardian puts it, "Talk is Free".  I guess it's my passion, a thing to keep me going through these twilight years.

So I'll be back next week, with some more wittering on about God knows what, and let's face it there's a lot going on right now to inspire me.  Might try some different stuff too, rather than commentaries and book reviews and trip reports - some poetry, maybe, or short fiction, a photo essay or two.  Who knows?  Any ideas and suggestions greatly appreciated.  Please stay tuned, and we'll see what happens!

-----------------------------------------------------

So Happy New Year, everybody - I hope it's great for you all!