Every morning I walk into town via Land Port Tunnel, every morning I have to run the gauntlet of vagrants lining the walls of the tunnel, with their little boxes with a few copper coins put in them for effect.
Some are musicians, to a degree, while others have all the musical talent of a fish with a trombone!
The New Year arrived with the usual bang, and for some, a banging headache the following morning. I however remained compos mentis.
I had promised myself that I would try and wake up on the first day of the year with a clear head and a spring in my step. The people I shared the end of the year with were pretty like minded, a couple of drinks, a bit of dancing and a running commentary on the festivities down at Casemates.
When did that happen? I can remember New Year’s Eve like it was yesterday and it seems that 2011 has vanished in the mean time. Not impressed!
But what a year it has been, we set up Your Gibraltar TV, and that’s something to be proud of for the year. Taking the time to look back and revisit the past year is often a scary process. You realise some of the things you have done you probably shouldn’t have, some things you wanted to do, you never did and most importantly how did your New Year’s resolutions go. I don’t know how many times I have made up a list of things I would start and things I would stop doing in the New Year.
Birthdays are something you really look forward to when young, the excitement of all those presents waiting for you, at times would be unbearable to the point where you would drive your parents up the wall just to get them early. As we get older birthdays lose their lustre, as we now look forward to things like the big 30 or the big 40.
Getting older for some is a big issue, its almost as we would like to stop the passage of time. After the big day I tend to look at my reflection in the mirror and take a really good look at my face, trying to see if there are any physical changes and on most occasions there is no discernable difference. (I once woke up with a black eye) I shrug my shoulders and get on with the new day. But the passage of time can sometimes remind us that we are no longer 20, stiff joints, not being able to read small print and my firm favourite hair growth in places where you thought hair could not grow.
Christmas Spirit is upon us all and as people run around town frantically looking for their Christmas shopping you can see a smug look on the people that know they were on top of there Christmas shopping and have it all wrapped up at home ready to go.
Children are buzzing as they think of Santa coming to their houses and to be honest, what a way to make sure they all behave… I over heard someone telling their kid that if “she wasn’t well behaved at this late stage then Santa would give her presents to the poor children in Africa”. Priceless…
Speaking of presents, it’s a hard and stressful time for people to know what to buy and what not to buy for people. There is always this risk of over stepping boundaries or shameful disappointment when someone opens their present.
So what to buy and what not to buy? No idea… I have been useless at this for the last few years and have got it wrong so many times. So now I go with the terribly disappointing and no thought gift of Cash for everyone that I need to. My theory, they can buy what they want and I don’t have to run around shops…
Retailers probably feel different about it, but hey, it all comes back in to the economy at the end of the day anyway…
Well 5 days to Christmas now, so enjoy yourselves and remember to be good else Santa cross you off his list…
Ed.
