| [ L o s t i n T r a n s l a t i o n ] by J. Leighfield, Editorial Manager |
![]() |
|
|
And a Happy New Year…!
|
WHY is it that, on New Year’s Eve, everyone seems intent on getting out of the house and away from the family as quickly as possible to get to parties and get as drunk as possible? OK, of course it’s lovely to go out and celebrate, even if it is freezing cold but you can’t admit that you’d rather be wearing jeans with tights underneath, trainers, a warm jacket and a hat, because you have spent a fortune buying a pretty little dress (which promptly gets covered in Champagne and other beverages, not to mention silly string), some high heels (which you can hardly walk in) and having your hair done (only for it to curl in the damp although you were assured by the girl in the hairdressers that it would stay straight for days).
Actually, not my scene. I’d much rather be somewhere warm and comfortable, but I respect partygoers and would enjoy it myself if New Year could come in the summer (there I must agree with my Argentinian colleague) and if it wasn’t practically ‘obligatory’ to wear the little dress, etc.
However, I just can’t understand the famous rows about whose family New Year’s Eve is going to be spent with, or the urge to rush out of the door as soon as the meal is over, or after the stroke of midnight at the very latest, as if family members had suddenly developed some dreaded disease. Maybe I AM cynical, but the ‘New Year’ is something invented by us (admittedly some centuries ago)… just because we change the name of the year and start again at January, nothing really changes and it is just another day.
I would find it much more ‘magical’ to celebrate, for example, the summer solstice and other such natural occurrences.
OK, call me a pagan or a heathen or whatever you like! I was born near Stonehenge, so maybe that’s got something to do with it.
New Year’s resolutions are made, and broken, sooner or later. I have now given up on them and prefer to make any resolutions (if I choose to make them) with the changing seasons.
And don’t talk to me about the Three Kings Parade! For my first few years in Spain, while I was still a child, it was something that I enjoyed and looked forward to, as there was a special feeling.
Now I refuse to even go, so I don’t have to watch children (and parents) scrabbling in the gutters over a measly boiled sweet which has, by some miracle, fallen to the floor and not in the upturned umbrellas taken to catch them in! Although some of the very young children still watch the parade with bright-eyed wonder, the older ones come away with bulging pockets and plastic bags filled with sweets. Gluttony is one of the seven sins and this parade, supposed to be of a religious nature, must be one of the worst examples of it.
So, once again, the Christmas Season will come to an end and the decorations will be taken down (and hopefully not thrown away!) and then comes the time when Ebayers have their own reason to celebrate. Once Christmas is over, the unwanted gifts that can’t be taken back for a refund are sold.
This, of course, is a great idea, rather than having them sitting in a cupboard, forgetting who they were from and then giving them to that same person the following year! It is also a great time to find some good bargains, and maybe even buy yourself what you REALLY wanted for Christmas.
But doesn’t it seem a shame that it has now become a cliché and people expect to receive unwanted presents. The saddest thing is that this happens because people don’t listen or bother to find out what their family and friends might like for Christmas.
At least, contrary to what our dear Leapy says is happening in the UK, here in Spain we can still say, ‘Felices Fiestas’ or ‘Feliz Navidad’, although similar problems are creeping into Spain, such as not having Nativity Scenes in schools and such.
Changes which, as is often the case, are not brought about by the immigrants themselves, but by the government’s obsession with ‘political correctness’.
As you can see, I am not a great believer in the ‘New Year, new life’ saying, but I would like to wish everyone the best for the 52 weeks ahead, a wish which is renewable next January.
If you have any views or comments on the subject, contact jennifer@euroweeklynews.com Don’t forget to tune into REM.fm every Thursday at 12 noon to hear more from The Euro Weekly News. |  Return to Top
Home Page
Send by Email |
|
|
|
|
|
|
![]()
| Birthdays |
| |
Robert Loggia - 78 - American actor ,
Rowan Atkinson - 53 - British comedian,
Doug E Doug - 38 - American actor, |
|
| |
more... |
|
 |
|
