Interesting Times

We are barely a third of the way through the first month of the year, and yet 2011 has already left an indelible mark on the consciousness of most of us. From freak weather to sporting triumphs to mindless acts of violence, this new year has certainly gotten busy very early on.

Although restricted to TV highlights and radio commentary, I have been greatly enjoying following the Ashes series in Australia. For those of you not in the know, I am talking about cricket – and the oldest rivalry in the game. Last week saw the culmination of the series, which resulted in England beating Australia to win the Ashes “Down Under” for the first time in 24 years. A wonderful achievement from a team who were hitting rock-bottom not so very long ago.

Of course, elsewhere in Australia, they have been battling against a natural disaster with the terrible floods they are encountering there. The world’s weather seems to have gone haywire recently, with the dreadful floods in Pakistan and Australia, the unusual amounts of snow in Europe that crippled the entire transport system (in the UK at least), and a similar story in the US where large snow storms have been battering the country for some weeks now – including the southern states. It seems to me that our weather patterns are changing, and in quite a dramatic fashion. If we carry on like this we will be having hot summers in England soon – and that would never do!! :-)

On another note, today is January 11th - or 11/1/11 ...or 1/11/11 depending on your own point of origin. I have been seeing a lot of repeating numbers lately. I glanced at the clock a couple of nights ago and it said 22:22, then the next day when I was watching the news the onscreen clock showed 3:33, and then later I noticed that I was following 1111 people on Twitter. It must all mean something. I am sure that a numerologist would be able to give some guidance. I am just taking it as a sign that the universe is aligning in some way and that, hopefully, good things are just around the corner.

“May you live in interesting times” is reputed to be an ancient Chinese curse. Well I don’t think many of us would argue the fact that we do indeed live in such times, but should we be seeing that as a curse, or a blessing? And, was there ever a period of time that wasn’t “interesting”? Whatever the truth is, I think that 2011 is already shaping up to be both interesting and memorable.

Hair We Go Again!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that you all enjoyed the holiday season, and that it brought everything that you hoped for.

So here we are at the start of yet another year – don’t they come round quick?! It is, of course, the traditional time to make resolutions to improve your life in some way. I have already completed one of my resolutions – to shave off the beard that I have grown over the last few months. Well, I say beard – it was more like a mass of hair that had sprouted out of my face in various directions! It wasn’t done purposefully either, just an inevitable result of the fact that I failed to shave for a number of weeks :-)

Anyway, the “beard” took a dive on New Year’s Day and is now no more. It was a strange experience all round. It is the first time that I have let my facial hair grow to that extent, and so when I looked in the mirror it seemed as though it was somebody else peering back at me. And yet, once I had shaved the whole thing off and was back to being clean shaven, that also seemed odd as I had now grown used to seeing this bearded geezer in the mirror every morning. A very strange feeling indeed. But now, three days later, I am starting to recognize my own face again, so the world is righting itself :-)

None of us can know what 2011 will bring, but I hope that every one of you has a happy and prosperous year and that we will all be better off – both financially and spiritually – by this time next year. If you are making resolutions, may you have the will-power to stick to them. I wish you all the best of luck as we each embark on yet another adventure in life!! Bring on 2011.