2011: A New Year

Be sure to wind it before you go to bed

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, however you celebrate the season. It was great to take some time off to spend with my wife, my friends and my family, to do a little (well, a lot, actually) of feasting, to enjoy both sunshine and snow, and to stop and look around a little bit.

Laser-Eye Kitty, the hot toy for 2010!

We put up a Jól tree every year, and this year's theme was red and gold. It looks like a lot of presents, but there's a lot of socks and underpants under there--practical giving!

Mom, Dad and nephew Sean pitching in on Christmas dinner

We went to my parents home to share their Christmas dinner, and my sister's boy, Sean was there. I don't get to see my nephews very often (I have a total of seven!) and Sean very rarely. A very bright lad, he's studying some facet of computing science well above my skills (anything approaching calculus and I flee in tears) and doing very well indeed. If anyone needs a genius on staff, he's available.

The rest of the holiday we spent being industriously lazy, harnessing the cats up to their new sleigh, baking cookies (my oatmeal-chocolate chip didn't turn out too well, but my wife's shortbread was outstanding), walks on the beach and lots of rich meals. I put in a few days at work between the 25th and new year's--it was a great time to get behind the keyboard and get into the office and organise my upcoming year (oh my . . . it's going to be a big year) and tidy things up.

The fabulous dinner. Nothing exceeds like excess

And then it was time for New Year's dinner. We haven't gone out on NYE once in the 27 years we've been together, but we don't feel like we're missing anything. This year's lobsters, from T&T Market were superb: firm, sweet and luscious, and the Champagne . . . well, we outdid ourselves.

An all-tasting-stars line-up

Yes, it's four bottles between two people,  but it took from 6 pm until 2 am! Ushering a new year requires serious fortification. Serious as the first bubbly, Lanson Noble Cuvee, a tremendous bottle with fantastic crispness and layers of creamy-biscuit-butter loveliness. The next bottle is James Bond's favorite, Bollinger. I was lucky enough to get a bottle of the Grande Anee 2000, full of stony minerals on the nose, with luscious lashings of lemon cream, and lemon thyme. Although it could have used another five or ten years in the bottle it was lovely. Standing next was Georges Gardet. Not quite in the same league as the first two, it's still a lovely bottle, with the sur lies characters of breadiness and viscosity that I favour. The last bottle, Domaine Chandon, is a very decent sparkler from California, but a wee bit out of it's league in this line-up, but it was midnight and we needed a toast!

Oh, it's a brave face before you hit the icy water, laddie

Of course, we had to pack it up  before sunrise because I had an appointment with destiny. Or density, I can't recall which. Up at the crack of 11:40, I staggered down to the beach for the annual Polar Bear Swim. Despite having gotten an invitation from the Surrey Naturists to participate in their event over on Crescent Beach, I chose to stay traditional--after all, the sight of my carcass in a Speedo is just as damaging to viewers and still technically legal.

Some years the fear of disappointing these ladies has been the only thing that got me to the beach

This year, like most of the last decade, my friends the Beach Bunnies found me and we stopped for our traditional picture. The ladies and I look forward to seeing each other--it's kind of like an extra layer of tradition.

Note the expression of joy. And numbness.

At least it wasn't blowing snow and high winds this year, but it was really dang cold in that water. As usual I don't stay in too long, just enough to qualify as an entrant. If you've never done a quick dip into water just above freezing with a terrible hangover, it does a lot of amusing things: your heart goes into bradycardia, the plaque in your arteries shatters and falls off, your internal organs clench like fists and your lungs decide you didn't need that breath of air anyway. Really, once you take the plunge, nothing the new year can throw at you can hold any terror.

I'm not posing. I froze to the ground.

We spent most of the rest of the day laying still (me in a hot bathtub) and didn't move around much until a walk later in the afternoon. The walk yielded a special treat for the coming year.

No, it's not photoshopped. I don't have the skill to make anything that beautiful

Now how is that to finish a wonderful and relaxing transition from one year to the next?

Plenty of stuff coming up for the new year. I've got planning to do, articles to write, meetings to meet, educational events to plan, organise an execute, wine to make, speeches to give, babies to shake, hands to kiss . . . no, wait, I'm not running for office--thank goodness. I don't know when I'd have time. I hope you all have a productive and happy 2011: may it bring you happiness and prosperity.

Posted by Two-thousand-and-Tim AT 10:20PM 0 Comments Comments Post A Comment Post A Comment Email Email

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