Merrie Knew Year.

As much as I love Christmas, and I do love Christmas, not for any overtly religious reasons so I can only put it down to happy childhood memories which have lasted to this day, I must admit that for the last twenty years or so I have come to dislike the days leading up to New Year’s Day.

Tellybox god is to blame I fear; the endless reviews and recaps of what happened during the year not quite yet gone. Yes, I remember, it was only a few months ago! Even tuning in to the news where you might reasonably expect to be informed of latest developments, you are subject to these recaps of things passed.

I wouldn’t mind if ITV, The Beeb and other channels confined themselves to one, suitably timed and delivered programme apiece about the year just gone, just one each, that would be fine but no, just about every TV programme has to have one itself it seems. I turn off or drift to a streaming service to find either proper entertainment or decent news coverage.

Even Google is getting in on that act by inviting me to “Look back on the year by exploring the Search trends of 2022.” Why would I want to see what other people were searching for, or should I say, Searching for, as I see that Google have capitalised the word Search.

Search engines, do we still call them that? Anyway, the pages you go to, to “Search” for something, seem to offer you the opportunity to explore “trending” searches. No thanks, I came here to “Search” for something specific and not to fritter away the time boosting SEO ratings for other people. SEO of course stands for Search Engine Optimization so there, I guess we do still call them search engines, sorry, “Search” engines.

Back to the new year, we’ve never been ones for going “big” with new year celebrations. We’ve done the pub thing a number of times, toasting the new year whilst stood at the bar. We were out on New Year’s Eve 1999 to see in the new minellium (thank you Victoria Wood and Dinnerladies for that), in Chavasse Park, Liverpool if you must know.

Word was that there wouldn’t be fireworks and people were advised not to congregate at the river. As midnight approached people began to gravitate towards the river. There were no fireworks. It may have been a triumph for health and safety but celebration-wise it was a bit of a damp squib.

Jools’ Annual Hootenanny, Jools Holland’s musical show and voyage into the new year, that’s our 31st December ritual, get the fire going, cold cuts and pickles, some nice drinks and toast midnight with champagne whilst watching and listening to the various acts on Hootenanny, then repairing to bed in the early hours as the embers in the grate die down.

2022 then almost gone, 2023 coming up. Why do we put so much store by it? They’re just arbitrary numbers, two thousand and twenty three years since, what? Even scholars of Christianity agree that Jesus Christ almost certainly wasn’t born that many years ago and point to a date between 6 to 4 BC, or BCE if you’re hip and trendy, thus making a mockery of the entire Gregorian date system.

Still, I suppose that we have to have some sort of “base” to count from, some reference point so that we know whether or not we are buying a brand-new calendar or an outdated one. Then there are all those who count from a different reference point and for whom the coming weekend really is nothing special.

Well, if you have read this far, whatever the next circumnavigation of the Sun brings, may it treat you with grace and favour.

Happy New Year.