Twelve Days later

This was written a while ago and before the pre-pandemic and Tier restrictive era. It therefore now appears to be a shamelessly nostalgic account but at the time it was simply the norm. 

What to do between Christmas and New Year?

It is a strange period of days. Other languages have some very evocative names for it. In the UK there has been a lobbying for "twixtmass" but my favourite is "The Twiglet Zone".

It can be a bit of a lost opportunity when there may be some free time from work and routines for most of us but little motivation, inclination or justification to make anything of it.

It is a time for those with families to be together which may not be possible during the rest of a hectic year. Relatives can be visited or hosted which keeps the communication, reminiscence and inheritance channels well and truly open, particularly where there is no regular connection through Skype and other third party portals.

It can be a sad period of reflection for the loved ones of those who have departed during the year or just with remembrances of Christmas's past. It can be a time of getting away from it all, an escape to a rented cottage or ski chalet. For those left at home long walks are planned but a combination of the invariably damp and dreary, rather than bright and crisp seasonal weather and jam packed semi-interesting TV schedules makes for easy persuasion to stay indoors.

A trip out to the Boxing Day and New Year Sales sounds an option but then you recall the misery of the previous 3 month cynically "Full Price" run-up , being  herded through the shopping centre, jostled in the checkouts and with a feeling of being ill at ease at an involuntary participation in a kettling manouvre in the multi storey car park.

It is quite normal therefore to find yourself in this seasonal doldrum sprawled out on the living room floor, surrounded by ravaged boxes of assorted chocolates , indecipherable instruction booklets for electronic toys, half opened and sniffed toiletries, a stack of weighty but trivial books, amongst a crime-scene type body outline consisting of puff pastry flakes and feeling that irresistible compulsion to go and have another root around in the fridge. There is still the soft underbelly of the roast bird to have a go at.

I have seen a Poll Result for this year where only 59% of the UK population expressed an intention to participate in any celebratory plans to see in the New Year. It can, truth be told, be a bit of a drag watching the clock from, say, 10pm to Midnight, and relying on a loose arrangement of musical guests on the TV to evoke what should be a more magical moment. Even the prospect of an early night to bed is less of an attraction in anticipation of the outbreak of the end of year barrage  as Big Ben strikes its last of, in 2019, the first decade of the 21st Century.

Religious significance and the relentless passing of time apart you would expect there to be a commercial and political campaign to separate these two key dates in the calendar. Imagine, keeping the Birth of Jesus where it is but moving the celebration of New Year to the middle of the year. They are already two separate events in our perception and understanding and indeed in our ever increasing consumerism at this time of year many may regard it more of a case of  "buy one get one free", which can only cheapen, one or the other depending on your conscience and persuasions.

The motor industry successfully implemented a similar strategy by creating two new car registration periods per year rather than just the longstanding mass release of brand, spanking new vehicles every 1st August.

In moving New Year to the summer months there are many, many advantages that I can see. It may not guarantee good weather, in fact it may be more likely to be bright and crisp than damp and dreary, but an outdoor celebration, wearing shorts and a 'T' shirt,  barbecue smoking and with Chinese Lanterns drifting up into a warm, dusk sky sounds idyllic compared to the archetypal Northern European event we are acclimatised and resigned to.

I can see tremendous benefits to the economy in a July New Years with spiked sales figures for the food industry, a surge in numbers of packs of beer (if indeed at all possible), small chiller fridges, outdoor gazebo's and lighting, deckchairs and patio sets, children's paddling pools and trampolines, gardening implements and plants, conservatories and portable coconut matting covered cocktail bars.

Where before, as a nation we have envied the Southern Europeans and Australians and their natural assimilation with the great outdoors we can now fully participate, perhaps hesitantly and reserved at first but then claiming it as our own lifestyle invention. We did it with Pizza and Tikka Masalla didn't we.

Of course, the powerful lobbying interests for Travel Companies and Airlines will object strongly on the grounds of loss of revenue to the Government as a New Year in July reinforces the attraction of a staycation rather than an overseas vacation. Turkey farmers will have to completely rethink their strategy to ensure the availability of birds in the summer or alternatively produce barbecue friendly turkey meat products. Do sprouts readily switch from a winter crop to a summer harvest? If not, this would not in my opinion constitute a great loss. There may, on the downside, be an increase in civil unrest and anti-social behavoir from over-indulgence in a warmer average temperature and an additional strain placed on neighbourly relations as a consequence of the British character flaw of one-upmanship in all things in plain sight in gardens and on driveways.

Having considered all aspects I can see the beginnings of a populist movement towards a summer New Year. It will take better minds and intellects to weigh up all of the pro's and con's of such a radical proposition and of course, to consider the viewpoints of minority groups such as Scottish revellers, Jules Holland, Gymnasiums, Personal Fitness Trainers and Druids.

This line of thought could be a Resolution to take forward . Let's get busy in the planning of this revolutionary idea, no time like the present to lay down the foundation for a new order new year. Now, where did I leave that gift of a year planner complete with detachable ball point pen?  I'll just see if it is under this pile of magazines . Ooh, wait a minute, The Radio Times promises a great day of continuous justifiable viewing and when it gets dark at 3.30pm I am perfectly entitled to put on my Christmas pyjamas and pull up the drawbridge. Perhaps, next New Year would be better to ponder such things after all.