Hyvää uutta vuotta!

After 31/12/1999 (we were at Potter's Field Park in central London, great atmosphere, great fireworks), any New Year's Eve is going to be a bit of an anti-climax. I can't remember any that stood out after that, only a couple of exceedingly dull ones.

At about half past nine yesterday, it struck me that you don't need to hang around waiting for midnight local time (GMT), you can open some bubbly shortly before ten o'clock and celebrate the Finnish (or Baltic, Romanian, Bulgarian or Greek, according to taste) New Year at ten o'clock and then simply go to bed.

If you are still up at 11 o'clock GMT, you can repeat the process and celebrate the European New Year. If you are so minded, repeat for the British New Year an hour later.

Gluttons for punishment can keep going until ten the next morning (Midway Island) or indeed start at ten in the morning with Kiritimati on Kiribati and celebrate the New Year for twenty four hours solid.

Last Post of the Decade by JP?

No. Not the last post of the decade. Seeing as the Gregorian Calendar started with the year 1 AD, the end of the 1st decade was the year 10 AD. Yes, fools, this also means the start of the current millenium was January 1st 2001. So let's just call this the last post of the year 2009.

What a year though, eh? MPs expenses surely tops the list in terms of politics, but what other stories did we have the delight of reading this year? In entertainment, Michael Jackson died. In literature we had our first female Poet Laureate. In international affairs we saw the Gaza Conflict and the inauguration of Obamarama. In science, that damn proton accelerator got back on track. In sport, Murray lost again. In blogging there was another list of top political bloggers that I didn't reach! And finally in personal affairs, my elder brother got engaged today.

I can't help but get all sentimental about this year, and wonder if next year will be as good... Will we have more strikes? Will the economy get on the road to recovery? Will the incoming Conservative government get off their pseudo-New Labour arses and do something useful? Will Obnoxio stop using the word "cunt"?

But what about the next 100 years? The next 1000? Will we find life on other planets? Will we communicate with them? How powerful will computers be? Will Europe be one country? Will China be the new America? What will happen to the human race?

These are big questions. I often dread the answers. For 100 years ago we didn't know what do with an atom, or really know what the damned thing was. Now we have the power to recreate the big bang. 100 years ago it would have taken weeks to get from New York to London. Now it takes a few hours. What will we be able to do in 1000 years? Can anyone answer that?

I have my own ambitions for 2010. Take up photography, lay off the coffee and write a novel are on the list. However I have ambitions beyond my control. I want laws repealed, such as the Anti-Terrorism Act. I want a Bill of Rights. I want a leader in the sense that Thatcher was. I want the right to take pictures of policemen goddammit. I want people to lay the hell off Israel. I want Boatang and D to admit that they are social democrats.

What do you want?  World peace? An end to terrorism? Or for someone to tell you whether 2010 will be pronounced "twenty-ten" or "two-thousand-ten"?

Anyway, think of this as you get rat-arsed tonight. And tomorrow. And most nights of the year.

Happy new year to all.

JP. 

Happy New Year

Best of luck to all for the New Year, we'll need it!

A special 'Hi' to the poor sods blogging from work today.