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Saturday 24 December 2011

Happy New Year..... not.

11.59- Excitement runs through the air like an excitable child running down the stairs to find their presents on Christmas Day.  A sea of people flood the streets and not a single inch of the ground can be seen.  A few of them begin counting down to zero- not many though, the clock hasn't even reached the final ten seconds yet.  These are a few of the many drunk people walking the streets, some in funny costumes, others in their party gear.  Suddenly, the partying stops.  As still as statues, everyone gets ready for the ritual that is shouting '3, 2, 1- HAPPY NEW YEAR!' and the partying resumes. Meanwhile if you are like me this year and aren't properly celebrating New Year, it's a case of turning round to whoever has managed to keep their eyes open until this ridiculous hour, grunting 'Happy New Year,' and then disappearing to bed.  Great, New Years Eve over and done with for another year ('Thank God for that,' I mutter).

Don't get me wrong, I am not a scrooge.  I am the excitable child that I mentioned earlier, who runs down the stairs on Christmas Day to find her presents and tears the wrapping paper to shreds.  New Years Eve is another story.  I'm not afraid to admit that I turn into a miserable middle aged person if nothing is happening on New Years Eve and sit there, feeling obliged to stay up until 12 o'clock so that I can play my part in this holiday by saying 'Happy New Year'- and then go to sleep.  My strong desire to go to sleep, and many other reasons, is why I say 'Nah tar' to New Years Eve.   

Why are we celebrating the turning of a new year? Now my question may seem idiotic, but makes perfect sense to me.  Yes the year has changed, well done Sherlock, but is there any need to celebrate the start of another long year of our lives? Logic tells me that if we celebrate the start of a new year, it is only right to celebrate the start of a new month.  For example, next month will be the only January of 2012 in all of our lives, so lets go out dressed as a bumble bee, party the night away and return home at 3.00 in the morning with only one shoe and only a distant memory of the night. 

It is said that your childhood is the best time of your life, granted that is true.  But although I like being the awkward teenager that I am, being young can annoy me a bit.  One reason being that I can't go out dressed up to a nightclub, let my hair down and unleash my inner Dancing Queen, all because I am fifteen.  I can't hop in the car with my best friends and go on a mini-holiday to London for New Years Eve because of that annoying little number fifteen.  I am in no way wishing my life away; I love not having a mortgage to pay and not being able to count the ever growing number of wrinkles on my face.  However, I just wish that I could wake up a few years older- or alternatively there could be a decent event for teenagers to go to on New Years Eve. 

In my opinion, the whole celebration of New Years Eve is overrated.  People party, others don't, but I can guarantee that most people wake up on New Years Day feeling miserable.  Be it from the hangover from hell or the sheer realisation that we are into yet another year and aren't getting any younger, I find it slightly amusing that the start of the new year ironically isn't a very happy one.

Nevertheless, I am sure that once I reach seventeen or eighteen, I will fall into the trap of New Years Eve: Partying all night, being the dancing queen I was born to be, and waking up in the morning feeling absolutely rubbish, deep down knowing that I will foolishly be lured in by New Year's Eve's glistening exterior in three hundred and sixty four days time.  On that note, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!