Happy New Year from Planet Earth

It seems like quite a negative way to start a blog, let alone a new year, but I feel that I need to apologise.

You see, this blog is going to sound rather downbeat and negative. It's not intended to but I know, even before I write the words, that is it going to. Obviously I'm hoping that it won't be, obviously I'm hoping that it will be life affirming and uplifting. But I'm not that good a writer. Maybe in the hands of someone more skilled.....

Anyway, last night we decided to head into Wanaka and join in the revelry and celebrations for New Year. Not surprisingly it was packed, especially for a small town. The bars were full to bursting - drinks could only be consumed indoors despite it being a warm evening to contain the consumption of alcohol. It wasn't working - the town had its glad rags on and was not going to take them off anytime soon.

After a couple of drinks, the heat and tiredness took hold and we needed to get some air. After negotiating the wobbling, waving crowds at the lake side, we reached the end of the main street and the end of the street lights. And with the blanket of darkness that came with that, the sky revealed its celestial majesty. Stars. Millions of them. 

For the first time in my life I could see not only the stars, but also the stuff I between. The Milky Way I suppose. It was all too much. So whilst people in town drank, celebrated and reminisced over the events of the year, I laid on a picnic bench and stared into the cosmos. In comparison, a year on earth seemed like a trifling thing. A mere blink of an eye. What was a year anyway? Why celebrate the passing of, what is in reality, the transfer from one month to the next. It happens twelve times in a year, so why the hullabaloo? Are the hangovers really worth it? Of course they are, but in the grand scheme of things, is New Year really worth celebrating?

Last night you could see Orion's Belt as clear as day. Well not day, but you know what I mean. Take one of the three stars that form the belt, Mintaka. Mintaka is 1,200 light years away. Yes, 1,200. So to get there, even travelling at the speed of light (which is pretty nippy by anyone's standards) it would take 1,200 years to get there. Better take a packed lunch.

Or to put it another way, the light coming from there has taken 1,200 years to reach us. We are looking at something that is 1,200 years old. It may not even be there anymore. We wouldn't know. If it were to disappear tomorrow then we wouldn't know for another thousand years or so. Assuming of course they the human race is even there to see it. Which, if by the events of the past twelve months are anything to go by, is unlikely.

But let's not dwell on that - I'll leave that to others. Instead I'll just gawp at the hugeness of it all and take comfort in the vastness of the universe. And if anything is worth celebrating then I'll certainly drink to that!

Third Time. Lucky

HIt dawned on me the other day that we are about to spend our third Christmas in New Zealand. And it took me a bit by surprise - well I never was quick on the uptake. Third time. Blimey.

The first time was on holiday and, quite frankly, it felt like we were playing truant or something - as if we'd snuck off from everyone and had a holiday in the sun without asking permission. It was supposed to be a one off, a once-in-a-lifetime experience and something to tick off the bucket list. Not that I had one. But if I had, there would be one less item on it. And once done we were supposed to be back to normal. 

Yet here I am, sitting on the deck of our house in Auckland and looking out over the Hauraki Gulf as Christmas approaches once again. And once again, it feels nothing like Christmas. It's as if Christmas is happening somewhere else and we're just watching from a distance. Which I suppose from a certain viewpoint we are. 

There are a number of work colleagues who have been in New Zealand a lot longer than us, ten years or more in some cases, and they say it still doesn't feel festive. I guess a 'traditional' Christmas is hard-wired into the psyche of anyone raised in the northern hemisphere. Mind you, although they say they miss it, I don't see any of them jumping onto an aeroplane and heading away from a blossoming Kiwi summer into the depths of a British winter. 

So what exactly does Christmas in New Zealand feel like? As this is our third I do feel a bit more qualified to express and opinions. Not that the lack of a qualification has stopped me expressing an opinion in the past!

Well, there seems to be a lot less fuss around the festive period; less stress, no fretting over whether the correct gifts have been bought or if there is enough food in the cupboards to last through the wilderness of two days without a shop being open. It seems to be more about taking it easy, seeing friends and just going with the flow.

And it's rubbed off on us. We haven't even thought about what to eat on Christmas Day. It hasn't even crossed my mind. 'She'll be right' and in fact, in the time it has taken me to write this sentence, I have decided that we're going to have a barbecue - some nice meat, salad, maybe some roast Kumara. Easy as. There is still the option of Christmas pudding. Or ice cream. Or both.

So whilst I do miss the traditional Christmas - it feels appropriate to call it that - I don't miss the hassle, the weeks of preparation and the scrum that is supermarket shopping. It's nice to be able to really relax and not worry about it. The spend time spending time if you like.

And I know this makes us incredibly lucky, especially as the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend Christmas in the sun is coming around for a third time. Will there be a fourth? Who knows. Certainly not us. And so, if this is to be the last, we'd better make the most of it. Starting now..... there's a chilled bottle of Sauvignon Blanc in the fridge with my name on it.....