New Year's Eve
Ah well, there I was on New Year's Eve, ready to write an entertaining and yet deeply profound post all about the past year. Well that's what I hoped, anyway.
Clearly everyone else had the same idea and that, coupled with the fact that our internet's been at the speed of an extra-slow snail recently (they are trying to sort it out), meant that I just couldn't post at all.
So I harrumphed off and watched telly instead: and since then I've been madly busy: and now it's the fourth of January, which is almost Spring. I hope.
It was strange for me being on my own on New Year's Eve - it was the first time it's ever happened. Stephen had just been started on some new painkillers and they came with a possible side-effect of "may cause drowsiness". In Stephen's case this always means "may cause SEVERAL DAYS OF SLEEP". So he stumbled off to bed before he fell to the ground.
My brother Michael and his family were over from Amsterdam and they took my Mum off to a party at the house of a friend of theirs. YESSSSSSSSSS!
There was a scary moment when she nearly didn't go because she didn't want poor Daphne to be left on her own without some kind of party to go to.
My poor mother is of course old now and she's never going to understand, even though I have told her several times a year since I first learned to say it. I don't like parties in general and I don't like New Year's Eve parties in particular. Oh, occasionally I have been to one that I've enjoyed, but that's very rare. Usually I've just crept away and sobbed in a corner hoping that nobody will notice the Killjoy at the Feast.
Sadly, if my poor mother's there - - and she often has been - she just can't leave it. "Come and dance, Daphne, you can't just sit there."
Jolly party-lovers like my mother who say this kind of thing to you they then think it's rude if you say that you can just sit there, and you will, and please could they go away and leave you alone? The next thing they do is to try to drag you to your feet. And then they get upset if you immediately leave and go home.
I'm not sure why I find New Year so very upsetting but it just makes me think of all the sadnesses and tragedies of the past year and I don't seem able to overcome those feelings when I'm in a group of people singing Auld Lang Syne and watching Big Ben and getting rather drunk and listening to Jools Bloody Holland.
So this year - - okay, last year now! - I was on my own.
I drank two glasses of Baileys and watched telly, and I didn't watch any of the New Year's Eve programmes, and I didn't listen to the bongs of Big Ben and - - for the first time in many, many years - I didn't cry my eyes out.
My mother was most unimpressed with me the next day. She'd had a lovely time at the party. "And what did you do, Daphne?"
"I watched telly. And I didn't watch anything to do with New Year."
She shook her head sadly. "Oh, what a shame."
I know it's practically halfway through January now but I just want to mention how much I enjoyed the holidays I had last year and the places that we visited: many new to me, and some old friends. Some with absolutely astonishing scenery and some places which I loved because they somehow grabbed my heart.
So here's the one I'm choosing as an illustration. I absolutely loved it. Carnlough Harbour, in Northern Ireland, on a sunny summer's evening. Bliss. Thank you, Silverback, for taking us there, and to the other beautiful places in Northern Ireland too.
Happy New Year, everyone.
Clearly everyone else had the same idea and that, coupled with the fact that our internet's been at the speed of an extra-slow snail recently (they are trying to sort it out), meant that I just couldn't post at all.
So I harrumphed off and watched telly instead: and since then I've been madly busy: and now it's the fourth of January, which is almost Spring. I hope.
It was strange for me being on my own on New Year's Eve - it was the first time it's ever happened. Stephen had just been started on some new painkillers and they came with a possible side-effect of "may cause drowsiness". In Stephen's case this always means "may cause SEVERAL DAYS OF SLEEP". So he stumbled off to bed before he fell to the ground.
My brother Michael and his family were over from Amsterdam and they took my Mum off to a party at the house of a friend of theirs. YESSSSSSSSSS!
There was a scary moment when she nearly didn't go because she didn't want poor Daphne to be left on her own without some kind of party to go to.
My poor mother is of course old now and she's never going to understand, even though I have told her several times a year since I first learned to say it. I don't like parties in general and I don't like New Year's Eve parties in particular. Oh, occasionally I have been to one that I've enjoyed, but that's very rare. Usually I've just crept away and sobbed in a corner hoping that nobody will notice the Killjoy at the Feast.
Sadly, if my poor mother's there - - and she often has been - she just can't leave it. "Come and dance, Daphne, you can't just sit there."
Jolly party-lovers like my mother who say this kind of thing to you they then think it's rude if you say that you can just sit there, and you will, and please could they go away and leave you alone? The next thing they do is to try to drag you to your feet. And then they get upset if you immediately leave and go home.
I'm not sure why I find New Year so very upsetting but it just makes me think of all the sadnesses and tragedies of the past year and I don't seem able to overcome those feelings when I'm in a group of people singing Auld Lang Syne and watching Big Ben and getting rather drunk and listening to Jools Bloody Holland.
So this year - - okay, last year now! - I was on my own.
I drank two glasses of Baileys and watched telly, and I didn't watch any of the New Year's Eve programmes, and I didn't listen to the bongs of Big Ben and - - for the first time in many, many years - I didn't cry my eyes out.
My mother was most unimpressed with me the next day. She'd had a lovely time at the party. "And what did you do, Daphne?"
"I watched telly. And I didn't watch anything to do with New Year."
She shook her head sadly. "Oh, what a shame."
I know it's practically halfway through January now but I just want to mention how much I enjoyed the holidays I had last year and the places that we visited: many new to me, and some old friends. Some with absolutely astonishing scenery and some places which I loved because they somehow grabbed my heart.
So here's the one I'm choosing as an illustration. I absolutely loved it. Carnlough Harbour, in Northern Ireland, on a sunny summer's evening. Bliss. Thank you, Silverback, for taking us there, and to the other beautiful places in Northern Ireland too.
Happy New Year, everyone.
posted by Daphne at 10:52 pm
11 Comments:
A great picture to symbolise the start of a new year.
Though I don't sit and sob on New Year's Eve I don't fancy parties either. A couple of friends round for a friendly BBQ, no need to stay up till midnight if you don't want to, no soppy Auld Lang Syne ( but a NY's kiss is OK !!)
That will do me.
Happy New Year Daphne.
Cheers
What a stunning photo. Congratulations on starting the year as you wanted without tears.
I feel just like you at new year. Usually I end up in a right grump but this year we watched two Poirots and just about acknowledged it was midnight and I was fine.
Happy New Year to you
I share your hope that we are nearly into spring, Daphne! I'm not keen on all the fuss over New Year either. To me, it's just a date. Hope the rest of the year is good, anyway.
I know the feeling!
Mrs. RWP and I like just being by ourselves on New Year's Eve. No loud parties. No driving on the roads with the drunks. For the past several years we have retired for the night by 10:30 or so and have been fast asleep when the New Year arrives. Just the way we like it. It has been a bit more difficult in recent years, though, because various people in our neighborhood insist on shooting off fireworks beginning around 9 o'clock on New Year's Eve.
It is interesting that you and your mother seem to be so different. Are you more like your father, do you think?
I always get depressed on New Year's Eve. I think it's the feeling that the holiday's over with nothing to look forward to beyond the long slog through winter.
Pity you didn't watch Jools Bloody Holland though. You missed the rather cheery Pokey Lafarge and the South City Three.
I always feel vaguely "empty" over the holidays because things are not the way they used to be (or rather, they aren't the way I perceive they used to be). Then I realized I could actually be responsible for putting on a party like the one I imagine, and when faced with all that work I decided it was okay to feel off. Spent NY Eve at home, went to bed at 10 with the cat snuggled next to my feet. The new year showed up anyway, without any effort on my part to bring it in.
I did spend New Year's day with friends, though, at a lovely, civilized, potluck brunch.
Thank you all for your comments - I'm glad there are other people who feel as I do about New Year!
I think I am on the same wavelength as your mum but that won't be telling you anything you hadn't guessed already.
Love parties - love the preparation, the sense of occasion, getting ready, waiting for people to arrive, ensuring everyone's having fun - etc.
This year, like most of the prior 5 or so - it's been low key; 4 of us, at S's. We had a four course meal. Lots to eat and drink.
S - like you - hates parties. He will veto anything over a maximum of 6 people and is happiest when it's <4.
I do know what you mean, though, about there being a melancholy about NYE; there always is. That bringing to mind of all that hasn't been achieved - the hopes and dreams we had this time last year, unrealised.
Anyway, I had a good time, and it sounds like you did too. Which is the main thing!
Happy New Year!
Post a Comment
<< Home