It's nigh-on inevitable to feel the need to summarise at New Year, even though the anniversary's arbitrary.
A lot of people find New Year depressing, but I've always quite liked it; arbitrary or not, I appreciate the sense of a fresh start. It's similar to how I felt at the beginning of a school term, or when Christening stationery; nothing beats writing your name & form number on the front of a new rough book, except for heroin.
2018's been a political shitstorm, from Brexit to Trump and all points in-between; hardly a day's gone by without a depressing headline or ten, with no sign of abatement in the near (or far) future. These problems can feel insurmountable with little hope of change on the horizon. Having said that, if the past year's had a theme, particularly on social media, it's that of the vulnerable finding a voice; perhaps the biggest cause of the political upheaval of recent times is apathy, but this trait seems to be diminishing, if the many protests of late are any clue.
Personally, the past twelve months have been mixed, but despite an up and down year, things have mostly resolved themselves. That's not a bad way for the hammer to fall, except for the unwarranted Queen song pun; I've never been a fan of their overly flamboyant wankrock.
So to summarise this summary, 2018's been challenging, but despite these difficulties, we're not broken yet. Here's to 2019 getting better; to paraphrase The Beatles, "It can't get much worse".
A lot of people find New Year depressing, but I've always quite liked it; arbitrary or not, I appreciate the sense of a fresh start. It's similar to how I felt at the beginning of a school term, or when Christening stationery; nothing beats writing your name & form number on the front of a new rough book, except for heroin.
2018's been a political shitstorm, from Brexit to Trump and all points in-between; hardly a day's gone by without a depressing headline or ten, with no sign of abatement in the near (or far) future. These problems can feel insurmountable with little hope of change on the horizon. Having said that, if the past year's had a theme, particularly on social media, it's that of the vulnerable finding a voice; perhaps the biggest cause of the political upheaval of recent times is apathy, but this trait seems to be diminishing, if the many protests of late are any clue.
Personally, the past twelve months have been mixed, but despite an up and down year, things have mostly resolved themselves. That's not a bad way for the hammer to fall, except for the unwarranted Queen song pun; I've never been a fan of their overly flamboyant wankrock.
So to summarise this summary, 2018's been challenging, but despite these difficulties, we're not broken yet. Here's to 2019 getting better; to paraphrase The Beatles, "It can't get much worse".