Well, hallo everyone, and welcome to the new year. 2009. It’s gonna be a good one – isn’t that what they always say. The new year is a chance to start afresh, wipe away the mistakes of the last year and get set for a wonderful 12 months. Well, tell that to the thousands of Woolworths employees,, sorry, former employees, who lost their jobs just before Christmas and now face a bleak time looking for work in a shrinking retail sector and worrying about how they pay the mortgage and put food on the table.
Let’s face it, 2008 was a pretty dismal year al things considered. Yeah, for Marc Nobbs it was all that bad. Stories published at Ruthie’s Club , two novellas published by Phaze and a full length novel accepted for publication next June. But for the real person behind the pen name, it’s been tough. My first year as head of the Accounts department has seen falling revenues, a tougher credit climate and a general all round gloomy feeling in the office. Then there was my home life, putting our house on the market at exactly the wrong time, my son going through the terrible twos, taking the house off the market again when it was clear it wouldn’t sell.
And I’d guess it’s been similar for a lot of people the world over, so maybe we should be hoping for a better year in 2009. But who are we kidding, huh? Every major world leader has warned that 2009 will be bleak for the global economy. So there’s a cheery thought.
But what is it about the change of year anyway? Why did countries around the world ‘celebrate’ the change of year by burning vast sums of money we don’t have in fireworks displays? Perhaps they are just happy that the planet made it around the Sun without being smashed into by a comet or other celestial body, or that our civilisation hasn’t ended due to sudden planetary climate change or even the collapse of the global banking system. No, wait, the global banking system nearly did collapse. Close one.
But what I mean is, the change of date from 2008 to 2009 is pretty meaningless really. Isn’t it? Was anything really different on Jan 1st than on Dec 31st? Israel were still bombing Gaza, the banks still weren’t lending to each other, the housing market was still on the slide and Wolves were still top of the Championship.
And where do we get 2009 from? Who decided? We are, of course, supposed to believe that it’s the 2009th year since a man named Jesus was born in a town called Bethlehem in a part of the world that has been in dispute ever since. Which is odd given that, from what I understand, most historians believe the evidence points towards this person being born not in 1AD but maybe as early as 7BC. They also think he was born sometime around April. so why then do we celebrate his birthday on December 25th. That’s easy. Christmas is simply the Christianisation of an old pagan festival to mark the winter solstice. But that’s a whole other issue.
Okay, I’ll stop moaning now shall I?
As for 2009, all I can promise is that as I’m a year older, I’ll probably be a year grumpier, which should keep readers of this blog happy. Cause we all know when Knobbie is grumpy, his blog entries are just that bit more entertaining. I can also promise that between now and June, you’ll be hearing a lot more from me about Kissed by a Rose. I just hope I don’t bore you with it.
