New Year, 1 January 2006

A happy new year to everyone.

It took me a while to understand that the calendar here has two new years and that they do different jobs. Tonight is the loud one — the table, the television, the neighbours, the fireworks that start early and stop late. The other, a fortnight from now, is the quiet one, kept mostly at home and mostly by singing.

Having both seems to me a sensible arrangement. One night to be sociable in, one night to be domestic in, and no obligation to make a single evening carry everything.

To everyone at a table tonight, and to everyone working through it — hospitals, railways, the people keeping the heat on: a good year to you.