Hogmanay 2013

The year endeth as it most probably began, with rain lashing the town.  A close look will reveal in the far distance the ebbing sun, thus indicating the last vestiges of the rain cloud that arrived at four this morning and has drenched its way slowly past ever since.  That far end has still not reached me!  When I came here this was described as the 'driest county in England,' and several houses round about had workmen employed strengthening the subsidence as the foundations were under threat.  That was seventeen years ago and it has not stopped raining since!  I could have gone back to Edinburgh instead of coming here if I wanted rain!  Rain is expected there, it is supposed to be dry here, what went wrong? Good job I am not the complaining kind.

Tonight is 'Hogmanay' the Scots celebration of the New Year, the proper time for a booze up mid winter festival.  This activity is not what it was in past days in my humble opinion, and my opinion as so many have helpfully indicated is indeed humble.  In my late teens we went door to door 'first-footing,' even though others had been through the door first, where drinking lots in a controlled manner joined with singing, talk of a humerous manner, dancing in some places, and a night to remember, usually. The delight of asking certain souls if they were ready for bacon and eggs early the next morning was a delight!  Today it appears to my little mind that just getting drunk is more important and the old enjoyable get together appears to have gone. Living in this wilderness of sin amongst English folks who have never worked out how to celebrate Hogmanay properly this is understandable, however I think a new attitude is around in Scotia itself.  Time moves on I suppose and maybe it's just me?
Oh listen, I can hear the kiddies out there already, 'Buckfast Wine' anybody?

Again we have the strange phenomena of parts of the world now into 2014 while other areas are still in 2013's yesterday!  A few of those well in the lead may well wish by now they had stayed back in yesterday I bet.  Just wait until the pictures appear! Fireworks have been seen in far away skies and even if the rain returns some bombardier will spend an hour or more attempting to emulate their colossal effort by bombarding the area with his left overs from November.  I will look forward to that from my bed I can tell you!
  
Shall we do what many do and look back across the past year?   No!

Good things may lie ahead, Scots Independence, Heart of Midlothian's survival, more delightful, intelligent bloggers arriving here to join the crowd that gathers, a few days sunshine, and maybe me doing what I ought.  Things can only get better, mind you that's what Tony Blair said before he copied Thatcher!

Today we hear that John Fortune has died.  he became famous as a satirist in the 60's and more famous still when operating alongside John Bird.  The two John's spoof of the world around them was always hard hitting and usually unscripted!  Here he plays an adviser to then Prim Minister Gordon Brown.

 

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