Well, here we are at the end of another 12 months, time to look back and reassess, make plans for the future, and all those other things you are meant to do at New Year.
One of them is celebrate. But am I the only person who thinks New Year’s Eve is the most over-rated and consistently disappointing event on the calendar? Whether it has been nights out or parties (many of them fancy dress, which I dislike at the best of times), my overwhelming experience of this celebration has been one of anti-climax. No matter how much you spend or how much time and effort is put in, it just never seems to live up to the hype or the expectation. Forced jollity seems to me to be very much the order of the day, with everyone surreptitiously sneaking regular glances at watches to see how much longer it is until midnight when, after a few minutes of hugs, kisses and friendly wishes, you can start to think about making your excuses and leaving. Oh, and then you have to pay an exorbitant sum for a taxi of course!
So disillusioned have I become with it all that I have now, in my mind at least, given up on celebrating altogether. Thankfully Sally-Jayne shares my feelings about it, in fact she feels that way about pretty much all parties, but that is another story! Our last two new years have been spent on holiday in Spain, giving us a ready-made excuse for not attending parties, and allowing us to have a nice early-evening meal, then sleep at a normal time and make the most of the following morning when everything is quiet and almost deserted. Perfect.
And what about this year? Well, the plan was for us to be in Southern Spain this time around, having been in Catalonia on the two previous occasions. But we opted to cancel the trip at the last minute, so here we are at home in Birmingham. And what will be doing to mark the occasion? Well, the answer is not very much. I will be cooking us a nice meal this evening, but I do that almost every night anyhow (!), and then we will be settling down to relax with good books and maybe a film. If we are up at midnight, it will be because we got engrossed in what we were enjoying, rather than because we feel we ought to be.
Maybe I am just prematurely middle-aged, an old fart, a grumpy old man, call me what you will, but my New Year’s Eve plans suit me just fine. I hope you all enjoy your evenings as much as I am sure I will enjoy mine.
Ian Braisby's Blog 
Too true. I elected out of celebrating something that is ending a few years ago. First I stopped going out and then elected to be the designated driver to a friends party each year. Then I stopped acknowleding the midnight hour altogether by being somewhere over the Atlantic ocean as it approached.
I didn’t go to North America this year but somewhere in the skies whilst coming back on a late flight from Italy I vowed to return to that tradition next year!
NYE is just a load of pressure, I’d rather avoid it all too.