Tag: New year

the calm before the storm

I think a lot of people feel that 2019 hasn’t been the easiest of years. There have certainly been highs and lows in my own life, and I gather that even the Queen recognised something of the sort in her Christmas speech. I didn’t watch the speech, but the report on Time website says:

Talking about the need for reconciliation and forgiveness, Elizabeth says: “The path, of course, is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference.”

Perhaps that’s why my attention was caught by the weather forecast this morning, which showed a constant and unexceptionable temperature all day long.
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forecast for 2019

Despite what the actual weather is doing outside my window at the moment – which is grey with intermittent rain – the outlook on the blog seems to be relatively bright with mainly blue skies.

Or possibly, “clear with a touch of Photoshop”.

How that relates to the year ahead remains to be seen.

looking ahead

It’s New Year’s Day, so if I intend to continue with my aim to update this blog at weekends and on public and bank holidays, I’d better find something to post.

I should probably clarify that that isn’t a New Year’s resolution, it’s just something I’ve been trying to do for the last few years. But blogging takes time and commitment and doesn’t reap much of a reward. I’ve been writing here for ten years now and there are nearly twelve hundred posts – more posts than followers! – including heaven knows how many original poems and photographs.
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success and enchantment

In the last few days, I’ve been hankering for an English version of the expression Feliz salida y entrada, which the Spanish use in the days leading up to New Year. It just doesn’t really have an equivalent in English.

When you speak two languages, the second one changes your world view and gives you access to all kinds of expressions and ideas that you didn’t realise existed when you were limited to your mother tongue.
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mothers and daughters

We had New Year at the start of 2017, and Chinese New Year at the end of January; then the new astrological year began on Tuesday with the Spring equinox.

Now today is March 25th – Lady Day – and, apparently, the traditional start of the new legal year.

(Incidentally, it seems that in combination with the lost days caused by the calendar change in 1752, this explains why we have a tax year that starts on April 6th.)
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