Well, what do we make of 2012? It came, it stayed a while, and now it’s off on its way again.
I can’t help but feel slightly disappointed with it, standing at the precipice of 2013 and looking back. Part of it is, as Julian Ware-Lane said, that we have had another twelve months of fairly disasterous Conservative governance — including a double-dip recession and probably putting us on track for a triple-dip.
There was also the profound disappointment of the, ahem, “end of the world“. T.S. Eliot’s prophetic line turned out to be a bit off, as rather than a whimper it came with a cynical spasm of bad jokes.
There were good points, naturally. Most notably, after over a damned year of searching I am now gainfully employed. It’s such a relief to actually a) have something to do all day, and b) have money coming in and being able to plan ahead. I know I’m one of the lucky ones, and for that I am grateful.
I have also become a parish councillor, which sounds a whole lot more important than it is. But it gives me a say over local planning applications, and I am already resolving to take a hard line on building on the floodplain. This year has been beset with flooding, and paving over more drainage areas will only make the situation worse.
This is usually the part where I make pledges for what I’m going to do in the new year. Whilst I have some ideas of what I want to achieve, I’m not going to lay them out here. Simply, I’ll only say that I want to be happy. A noble aim, I think.
So have a good new years, my readers. And I sincerely hope that your 2013 will be even better than your 2012.
Here’s to a red 2013!
Amen to that!