365 days, or

 

A New Year has arrived.

 

One wouldn’t think that the changing of a year could be so important, but somehow this year it is. We all awoke with the hope that life would be better this year, that we could finally put behind us the monumental changes that the pandemic brought, that we could

right the wrongs done to others and perhaps to ourselves, that we could be a kinder, gentler version of ourselves, in short that there will be a new beginning.

 

Personally, last night as we had our dinner and drank our champagne talk turned, unplanned and we rather pleasantly surprised ourselves, to the good things that had happened in 2021. Each of us came up with more than one would have thought given the anxiety of the past days, weeks and months. All this proves that there is always good even during the worst of times that looking for the good is much more fun and relaxing than enumerating the bad.

 

I have never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions, but we have all been given a clean slate, one on which we alone can write this coming year’s events. Let us try and create a nicer, a friendlier, a happier year. Let us be gentle on ourselves as well as with others; let us see the sun and not the shadows, in short let’s live each day as if there were no tomorrow; we have all seen how quickly life can change.

 

Look for the friendship, the love; be open with strangers, a new friend may be lurking just around the corner; treasure old friendships, family, colleagues, neighbors; be the best person that you can be – it’s easier than you think and much more rewarding.

 

Hope for a better future, not only for oneself and family, but for the world; in doing so one contributes to making it a possibility. Invest in people – that’s the only worthwhile investment; but above all be kind to yourselves.

 

It’s a New Year, it’s a new beginning: make the most of it so that at the end of another 365 days you can look back and say 2022 was a Good Year, let’s continue that way.

 

Sunrise over the mountains

 

 

Bright new beginnings

 

La Couronne, 1246 Corsier, Switzerland

Or gray, dreary dull starts if one is talking about the weather!

But then again, I would rather not: they had predicted snow during the night so when I woke up to grey, drizzly I was not well pleased

 

Pleased though to turn over a leaf, shut down 2020, get rid of last year, call it what you will, gone forever more 2020 and even if 2021 does not come with a guarantee of better things, surely it will be generally better for all of us.

 

My endings were good: I “last-footed” one of my best friends, i.e. dropped by with a magazine (for those wanting to know more about “last-footing” it doesn’t exist, but rather was my on-the-spot interpretation for ending the year seeing a friend as opposed to the Scottish “first-footing”) First footing’s origins are nebulous, some feel that it was the blond-haired Vikings, which struck terror into the local’s hearts, but it is accepted that it is the first person to cross one’s threshold after midnight. They are meant to bring luck and should be dark-haired (referring back to the terror of the blond Vikings?).

 

I did not stay up til midnight! My family did not have a history of celebrating New Year’s Eve, and my husband mainly did precious little as well, so it is fine with me if we drink our champagne at any time after 18:00 that suits and say “well it’s New Year’s somewhere in the world” and go have a normal night.

 

This morning as I went out to get bread at the local bakery, there was not a soul about, so the first person I saw was the chap who runs the “La Couronne” in my village. Full of light I was gifted a to-go coffee and feel that that went well towards having my first foot in 2021 be a very pleasant one.

 

Written to friends and family yesterday: “As we say goodbye (ok good riddance) to 2020, we have high hopes for 2021: may they all come true! Gather our small groups, look forward and work towards a better day, one which we can all have a part in making come true. I am sure that if we try we CAN improve things as long as we remember to pull together, to unite (or re-unite), to express our feelings, but not expect others to agree - and above all be willing to listen to other opinions”.

I wish you all peace, joy and happiness.

New beginnings and all that….

Why do we automatically presume that we must make New Years’

Resolutions, never mind, keep them? Especially as most of us don’t even manage

to master those daily lists.

Still a new year, and now a new decade do call us to reflect and perhaps give some

consideration to what we would like, if not need, to change in our lives.

Yesterday I did make a start, not on any list of resolutions, but simply put it into my

head that 2020 will see me continuing something I started two years ago, ie throw out one item a day, and two, not save the good stuff, be it clothes, plates, furniture, expensive

towels or sheets. Our lives are finite: why purchase things with the vague plan of using them “someday”?

To those I’ll add something I try to consciously do in my daily life: people are more important than things, having coffee, lunch, a drink, dinner with a friend beats anything else. One needs to listen to that inner voice and stop and listen when someone needs us.

After all, cleaning just needs re-doing!

Cheers to all and may this decade be your best!

OK where was that list?