View from my balcony, in the afternoon of New Year's Eve 2019.
Fireworks, around midnight
“Every new beginning comes from
some other beginning’s end.”
~ Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid 1st century AD) ~
some other beginning’s end.”
~ Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid 1st century AD) ~
After a generally gloomy, foggy and dark November-December, the very last day of 2019 offered a glimpse of blue sky and sun in the daytime, a sliver of New Moon at sunset, and a perfect clear night sky for New Year fireworks in the evening.
When I woke up this morning, the world outside my windows was once again swept into familiar grey fog, though - with howling winds to accompany it. I guess 2020 felt a bit like most of us - rather reluctant to get up and get started on the job of clearing up the mess left over from last year!
For the 19th year in a row, I spent New Year's Eve at home, with the same small group of friends as usual. Three of us used to live in the same building, back when it started. One usually has her sister visiting for New Year; and the other now also has her mother staying for Christmas and NY.
'Old ladies' postcard picture by Inge Löök
I'm borrowing this illustration, because a/ I did not remember to take any photos before midnight, and b/ we're not really the "let's take selfies" kind of crowd anyway...
Part of our tradition is to watch a film. This time, we watched two.
The first was Watership Down, animated classic from 1978 based on the novel by Richard Adams. She who brought it remembered it as good. I recalled thinking the film was not as good as the book. Someone else had read the book, but had not seen the film... Okay, so we watched it. She who brought it kept saying "I don't remember this". (Somehow she had managed to forget all the sad and cruel parts.) Those who hadn't read the book kept wondering who was who (or where or what or why). Myself, I reread the book only a couple of years ago, but most of the time found myself unable to sort out the story line in the film anyway. - At the end, we agreed that the landscape drawings were pretty and the music good... but...
To cheer us up after the rabbit chase, I suggested also watching a Swedish comedy. (Solsidan/The Sunny Side) Everyone knew the main characters in it from a TV series, and it took us through the rest of the evening and gave us some laughs. But we reached the end before midnight, so did not miss out on the drama of also seeing 2019 turn into 2020...
Happy New Year, everyone!
10 comments:
Happy 2020. I like the vies from the window and was fast asleep while you were taking them. maybe not though. I am glad your friends came and you could see the year in together. a great tradition for that long.
I read Watership down the book, and adored it. But I don't think I liked the film. I love this gorgeous clock!
I had a very quiet New Year's Eve mainly chatting on the phone and messaging family and friends in New Zealand etc. I read Watership Down when it came out and decided that it was the most horrendous book I had read after Lord of the Flies. I almost tried to watch the film but decided against it. Definitely not my idea of a quiet evening's entertainment!
Choosing a film to watch with a group is a rather delicate task, unless you know everyone is, say, a Harry Potter fan or loves Star Trek.
Independantly of te choice of film, I so like your way of celebrating with your friends. Self-made traditions are great, just like our Schrottwichteln :-)
I saw the same moon yesterday in Finland. Looked like yours exactly.
Sandra, yes, it's quite amazing really that we've managed to keep it up all these years.
Ginny I like the book too, because the book takes the time to create a full background story and let us know the rabbits as individuals as well as members of a community and culture of their own. The film (only 1½ hour long) does not manage either of those aspects.
Graham if you did not like the book I think you would definitely not like the film (as it basically keeps the horrendous stuff but leaves out the explanations)...
Meike, your comment is spot on (as so often). It is indeed a rather delicate task to choose a film that will suit all of us. In the early years, our options were limited to the few video tapes (and later DVDs) I happened to have; and I used to suggest one (or perhaps offer two or three to choose from) that I thought would be a fairly safe choice for all. Nowadays there is so much more to choose from, though - both in my own collection and from "other sources" ... So not always easy if someone suggests something that I myself would not have chosen (trying to consider "everyone", not just myself). Because no, we do not always all love the same things...
Well Paspii - I guess it's fairly safe to assume it WAS the same moon! ;)
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