In with the new year

I finally saw the fireworks on the Thames....from my bedroom window! As the chimes rang on Big Ben on the BBC, the horizon lit up with a kaleidoskope of lights, silently spilling upward. There must be thousands of people huddled underneath those lights, freezing blue and cheering the new born year, trying hard to believe in hope and new starts.

As nine replaces eight, a second later than usual, a certain bitterness stays: an after taste of ways of doing things better or wasted opportunities? Or is this just the feeling of time passing by? Why are the uneasy times better remembered than the happy times?

Happy times there were: a smile here and there, warming the gloomy mood. Laughs and cheers during family and friends reunions. A sense of small achievements upon a pay rise.

No matter how poignant the hard times are though, the short lived happiness that comes before is what I am looking forward to living again.