One of the traditions I like in Japan is their New Years greeting: Akimashite omedetou gozaimasu! Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegai shimasu! ( Happy New Year. In this year too, please favor me).
(It’s a one size fits all Nengajo- New Years Card). This year is Heisei 28.
Here in Germany, the S.O. and I were witness to the annual carnage that is Germans going nuts with fireworks. It was foggy this year so we could not see the adjoining villages as clearly as last year, but the carnage full throated with a low level of fireworks going from about 8 o’clock and all hell breaking loose at midnight. One can buy all kinds of fireworks in the grocery stores in the period right before Christmas.
Sadly, I was not at a New Years party much as I would have liked to be. So we enjoyed some of this:
The S.O. fell asleep and I watched the London and Edinburgh fireworks on BBC. Quite impressive-and made me want to be there myself.
In Munich there was a terrorist alert, police ward of an “imminent threat”, while in Dubai there was a major building fire. True to form the Arabs showed how utterly tasteless they can be by going ahead with their huge fireworks show anyway.
Brussels, on the other hand canceled its fireworks because of credible information about terrorists. After all, they probably can only support one police orgy per year.
The Sydney, Auckland, Hong Kong, and Singapore fireworks looked awesome-wish I had been there.
But here I am at home-yet again. Meet the new year-same as the last year.
Happy New Year.