New Year's Eve

I'm spending the evening on my own (well, with the dogs and the tv) by choice, so no pity please. Everyone has somewhere to be tonight, and I'm happy to stay to calm the dogs when they get spooked by the midnight fireworks and hooting from the tankers down by the docks. It's quite a luxury to be able to sit and reflect on the year, have the tv remote control all to myself and not be at anyone's beck and call. Having said that, the house feels very empty and quiet and the garden is full of strange dark menacing shapes so I have locked myself in... what a wuss.

I never get flowers unless I'm sick, so this image is quite an indulgence which I want to share with all of you tonight, with love. I'm thinking of all the lonely people out there who are not as lucky as I am, who are alone tonight not through choice but because they have no-one who cares for them, or have loved ones they cannot be with for whatever reason. I am thinking of the servicemen away from home at this time, and more than that, of the families they have left behind with the burden of worry as well as the sadness of separation. I have been in that situation in 2003, when my husband was required to complete a tour of duty in Iraq at the very start of the war; those months of no information and horrific images on tv daily (some watched from a hospital bed following an operation) stick in my mind as a time of extreme trial, and devastating for the children.

I always resolve not to make any New Year resolutions, then break that by making loads, which I then break in turn over the following week. This year I resolve to enjoy life more in 2010, to take every opportunity which presents itself to be more creative, and maybe even to become a better photographer; there is so very much to learn there. I hope Blip will be a big part of my journey, and will not only document it but also provide creative inspiration. How wonderful would it be to meet some of the people you meet only virtually, and see a tiny bit of their worlds? I'm hoping to attend a few blipmeets during the year to do just that.

Now I'm going to cook myself a prime piece of fillet steak and crack open the bubbly; I'll toast new beginnings, new hopes, and new friends real and virtual.... Cheers! Happy New Year to you all! Deseando a todos un Próspero Año Nuevo.

PS: On a less sentimental, but funny and somewhat sexy note, here's a little camera-related video I found which may amuse; click here.