Happy New Year

The bloody years disappear fast don’t they? A year ago we could hardly stay awake to welcome in a new decade and in fact we had given up on seeing in the new year until the baby demanded a timely midnight feed.

This year has gone quick though. Our lives were busy before but with a 14-month old and with both of us working, couch potato time is practically zero.

I’m not a big New Year’s Eve fan, and am fortunate that (where allowed) I can go out on the other 364 nights of the year, so I have never fully understood the fuss tonight, nor the pressure or the cost that goes with it. Nonetheless I always find myself in a very reflective mood.

We have been in Bermuda since July 2008 and I was awarded a new 4-year Bermudian work permit in the summer, which allows us to stay on the island until 2014. So a little piece of security in a changing (not for the better) social-economic atmosphere on the island, but my work contract does not run concurrently with my work permit.

Life is good In Bermuda, I couldn’t look you in the eye and say it isn’t but it can be like living in a bubble and one day it will burst and it’ll be time to leave. The business I’m in is in a painful cycle, although it could change in an instant but undoubtedly Bermuda is in our plans for a while. However I am craving for more of a long-term plan for us. Being back in the bosom of our family and friends does that to me.

We have been ‘home’ since the 23rd and with the weather behaving, we’ve had a fantastic and a fairly relaxing time seeing family and a few friends. And wasn’t it great to see snow covering everywhere Christmas Day? I’ve noticed that kids are now expecting snow here, when I was a boy a decent frost was enough to get me excited.

This year we are spending New Years Eve at friends in Essex, a couple that we became very close to when they lived in Chicago a few years back and in one of those ‘isn’t it a small world’ moments we are being joined by another couple we got to know in Bermuda. They moved to the UK earlier this year (he’s English, she Bermudian) and by a complete fluke of luck they now live in a house just around the corner from our Chicago friends in Shenfield. My other half put them in touch and, well as I said it’s a small world.

Whether you are doing it in style tonight or celebrating it more modestly, are in a reflective mood or not, are toasting a Charlton takeover or something more important to you, have an enjoyable evening and I hope it is a precursor for a happy and healthy 2011.