Thoughts on a new year
And so the Earth completes another orbit of the Sun.
But seeing as an orbit is essentially a circle [or, for the pedantic – an ellipse] it has no start or finish line, so you can pick any arbitrary point on the circuit just to mark the completion of that orbit. Unless of course there are cosmic start and finish posts Up There, but surely we would have seen them? Therefore the significance of this particular point on the calendar escapes me. Well, apart from having to buy a new calendar, that is.
To those of us who are no longer gainfully[?] employed the start of a new year is of little significance. We don’t have to worry about annual company budgets, annual performance reviews or even indeed that sickening return to work tomorrow with a massive hangover and having to run the gauntlet of hearing about everyone else’s shenanigans over the holiday period. So for me at least, the new year is of zero significance. My celebrations therefore are more about what hasn’t happened rather than what has, if you get my drift…..
There are some things that will change for me such as some of the budgetary changes which came into effect at midnight where they shave a minuscule amount off my tax rate which will probably amount to an extra couple of pennies in my pocket at the end of the month, but that’s it. I am not exactly going to go wild on that?
I gave up on the old resolution lark about fifty years ago. After all, it’s difficult to improve on perfection? And if I did want to make some resolution, why not start it at the time, or the 10th of March, or my birthday, or even the 22nd of January? Why does it have to be the start of an arbitrary year which is, when all is said and done, just a number?
However, much as I tend to ignore all this new year stuff, it is sort of traditional to give a greeting around this period.
I wish all my readers a Happy and Prosperous Fresh Orbit of the Sun.
I have decided that the scientific fact of the solstice is far more significant than arbitrary dates!
I couldn’t agree more. The year should start on the Solstice which would make today the 12th of January. I know the actual Solstice varies slightly from year to year but taking an average [currently 21st December] would work a lot better.
The earliest sunset is around the 14th December but the latest sunrise is on the 31st (approx). The shortest day occurs in the middle. Sunrise on the 1st January appears to be a few seconds earlier so marking the start of the new year. NB I’m extrapolating /guessing the seconds based on these figures for London.
http://www.sunrise-and-sunset.com/en/sun/united-kingdom/london
Happy New year.
Sunrise and Sunset are slightly out of synchronisation in that Sunrise starts to occur later while Sunset is still arriving earlier. As you say – Solstice is in between – https://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-winter-winter-solstice
An a Happy New Orbit to you too.
As one of those who are also no longer gainfully employed the new year does require a bit of thinking on my part as well as on the part of my wife who changes the many calendars we have hanging about the house. For me it’s ensuring I write the correct date (year) in my check book and on a check as well. I find it very inconvenient when a check comes back to me because it was dated for 12 months prior.
Considering my mental capabilities of late, the above takes quite a bit of concentration as you might imagine.
Here’s to another twelve months, no matter what they may bring.
A couple of weeks ago I resolved finally to sit down and learn some things I have been meaning to learn for years. I have spent most evenings of the last decade watching increasingly inane Bavarian cop shows and slowly i can feel what little is left of my brain,after decades of industrial grade alcoholism, ossifying. Of the 2 subjects I am attempting one was German shorthand and the other Old English. I started the shorthand a while back and the AngloSaxon I started today, not because the day is in anyway auspicious but simply because i have spent what free time I have these last weeks trawling through google, youtube and various *cough* piratical sources to find learning materials. Last night I located a copy of a text book I have been meaning to use and after faffed around with the ipad1 was then ready to commence this morning.
Unfortunately OE seems to attract the whole EDL/English shield wall/BrexSShiteur nutters or as my brother put it recently (he took OE, Celtic and Old Norse at Uni…which probably explains why he lives a friendless life on the shores of some scotch loch or the other):” i’m bemused at the popularity of a language indisputably brought by European immigrants who really took over a country and destroyed a culture with a bunch of idiots who think the Eu is doing the same.”
History has been altered for hundreds of years to suit the ruling classes, invention of the anglo saxons to suit a german monarchy, well it has according to a welsh historian ….a bit like america where any old bones found the indians claim them… a bit like the bible also altered to suit….
“welsh historian ”
/
welsh historian, alan wilson and baram blackett
BAH HUMBUG
We always remember my wife’s late father who died at New Year. Tends to dampen her spirits a wee bit as they were very close.
I envy her the closeness that I never had…
and to you and yours I wish good health and happiness for the entirety of the next orbit
And a happy new orbit to you, too, with as little wind as possible, literally as figuratively … 😉