Happy New Year!

There’s certain remarks which you just know are going to be said.  Such as, when it’s pouring with rain, “Lovely weather for ducks,”   and, when the phone rings at eleven at night, “Who’s that at this time?” and – another weather one = “Not bad for the time of year.”  Clichés all, yes, but after all, when the same sort of thing happens it’s unreasonable to ask for a freshly minted, witty  phrase to sum up the situation.  Besides that, there’s a sort of familiarity about clichés which makes people feel at home in the conversation.

The stock phrase for this time of year is, “Doesn’t the house look bare?”  And, yes it does.  The poor old Three Wise Men eventually arrive at the crib, have their (very) brief moment of glory, and then that’s it.  Decorations down, tree gone, tinsel away, the last mince pie eaten.  Because Christmas coincides with New Year, we could, perhaps, spare a thought for the old Roman god, Janus, who’s always looking in two directions, back to the old and forward to the new.  So the house looks different but sort of the same – just like a New Year - and we have a whole new year to think about.

So what’s new?  Well, the house seems not only bare but quiet.  Helen’s gone to Paris for six months, Elspeth’s back in Glasgow, Lucy’s been despatched to Leeds.  The amount of junk telly watched at chez Gordon-Smith has gone down dramatically (although I found myself watching Come Dine With Me so I can’t blame the kids for that)  I can get in the bathroom once more and work, which I’ve cheerfully ignored over Christmas, beckons.

The Three Wise Men, as it says in the gospel, “Go home by a different route.”   Admittedly, it was to avoid the psychopathic mass murderer Herod (the sort of character we all, hopefully, can avoid!) but coming home by a different route sounds a bit like what a new year’s all about.  I hope yours is good one!  Happy new year, everyone.