In With The New

Christmas is over, and a brand (and hopefully, grand) New Year is officially upon us. How was it - or perhaps, how is it so far - for you?

Overall, I'm happy to say that we had a lovely time. I'm aware that many of you who are so kind as to visit the Animal Disco regularly come here for the gastro details; if you'd like to skip the waffle and go straight to the menu, I may, in due course, end up sharing details regarding the scoff that hit the dancefloor in another post. But then again, I may not. Either way, stay with me while I rekindle the blogging appetite again; I'll do my best not to put you off your food.

While you've been living it up in your own fine style, here's a brief rundown of where I've been over the holidays:

Christmas Eve: Dad, Mike, Mike's bro and me at Gascoyne Place (supper for four, plus fizz - ace).

Christmas Day: Church, our kitchen, our living room, TV, pressies, our kitchen, TV, the living room, our kitchen (guest list as above, plus Bella the dog).

Boxing Day: Our kitchen, town, Garfunkels, our kitchen, the living room, DVDs, our kitchen (guest list as per Christmas Eve).

27th December (sounds far too bland; I really think this date ought to have it's own official title): Our kitchen - bye bye dad, Mike's bro and Bella. The car. Liverpool: Vicki and Tony's, their kitchen, nieces, mum, pressies, buffet. Ross and Trevor's, their kitchen, one of their spare bedrooms (The Blue Room), pub (Peter Kavanagh's).

28th December: The Blue Room, R&T's kitchen, The Everyman Bistro (mum, Vicki, Georgia, Carlotta DuPrey, Trevor, Angela, Sammy, Mike, me). Lunch, with fizz. R&T's kitchen. The car - to Vicki's, their kitchen, a rather poor Thai chicken curry (my fault entirely), the car, R&T's kitchen, Thomas's new flat (which is actually below Sol's old flat, all done up), back to The Blue Room at around 4am. And then, disaster struck ...

29th December: Is this a hangover I see before me? If so, it's well deserved. But hang on ... temperature, vomit, an inability to do anything other than lie in a heap, sweating. Headache. More vomit. The temperature's rising ... and lo, gastric flu is on the horizon. By 5pm, I just about had the energy to make it to the car. By 9pm, I was back in Bristol, sitting slumped in the corner of the sofa at a friend's house, still looking and feeling disgusting. By midnight, I was contaminating our own bed. And so it went on ...

New Year's Eve: Just about made it to a cottage near Radstock, where friends of ours had holed up for the end of the festive season. I took up sofa-position again, from which point I watched everybody having a party, and imagined my alter-ego joining in. One sip of pink fizz as the witching hour struck, and I was back home for the holidays again, the only highlight being the two horses I met on the way to the car - charming and beautiful though they were, I couldn't risk more than a quick stroke for fear of passing the lurgy on to them as well. Blimey. Talk about starting the New Year on a low! Ah well. Things can only get better ...

Perhaps it's a little too early in the year to predict exactly how 2008 will shape up; suffice to say, I wish everybody a really good one, full of everything they wish themselves. Actually, that's an appropriate blessing, given one of the overriding themes that seemed to dominate the festive period down the disco. Now I'm pretty confident that what I'm about to say isn't affected by any kind of post-viral slump - I'm feeling loads better today, and anyway, I started wandering off down this particular thought-route way before the plague grabbed hold of me. But honestly, I can't help wondering where genuine goodwill has gone.

In my own little orbit of family and close friends, all was calm, all was bright. But in between the lines ...

Why have some people stopped saying "Thank You" altogether? Heck, when did people stop bothering to even muster up a "Hello" when entering a room? How have we managed to put together a society where manners, grace, elegant behaviour, 'real' conversation or even a hint of awareness of anybody other than our own vain, egotistical selves have all become apparently worthless? Why do even adults need to be constantly 'entertained' by other (admittedly, far more interesting and entertaining) people on TV? Why do arrogant, racist thugs call themselves 'Christians'? Eek, I should stop - I'm beginning to depress even myself, let alone my dear readers. But perhaps, against the backdrop of angels, fairy lights and jolly reindeers that has dominated the scene for the past six weeks, the frailties, hypocrisy and sickeningly selfish behaviour in all of us is brought into sharper focus more than at any other time of the year. But rather than just giving up and giving in, I have - perhaps for the first time in my life - made some New Year's resolutions that might actually be worthwhile.

1. Random Acts of Kindness

I intend to do at least one on every single day of 2008. Yay!

2. Tolerance

I'm going to practice it, big time. BUT ... I'm going to demand the same in return from those who don't seem to know the meaning of the word, both on my behalf and on behalf of others. But I'm NOT going to tolerate rudeness, in any form. So there.

3. Appropriate Apology

I'm going to quit saying sorry when I haven't done anything wrong ("I'm sorry for being ill", "I'm sorry you can't accept my point of view", "I'm sorry the house is a bit of a mess", "I'm sorry I'm working today", etc) and start saying sorry only when I've done something wrong (hurt somebody, for example, or come out with some really stupid, angry statement when drunk).

4. Appreciation

I'm going to count my blessings all the time, because I don't think I do this anywhere near as often as I should (and I'm very lucky person, on many, many counts).

5. A Dog

Someway, somehow, I'm going to get one of my own - this year. Talking of which ...

... I've barked on for far too long! Get back to your first day in the office (a-ha, I know what you get up to at your desk) and above all, have fun. And hey, spread the lurve, okay?

Happy New Year!