Into the maelstrom

Finding the way into a new year can be like fighting through to a bar in a crowded pub or the scene in an old movie where the protagonists are about to board a ship with all the hustle and bustle of the wharf – shouted instructions, whistles, luggage, and confusion. Lots of conflicting demands, competing calls for your attention – and all this just as the celebrations and festivities have died down and you’re ready for a quiet period. It sometimes feels as if there’s too much going on, but it’s a new year and somehow you’re ready for it. Well, I am, at least.

Bands, choir, writing groups, community groups, sports activities are all starting up again, all demanding activity, hence the need to push through to the bar, find your space, make your mark, get the year started.

I’ve heard people say that January is a long month but we’re halfway through already and I haven’t drawn breath. I’m looking forward to things settling down again, to some kind of routine, and like the boarders of the ship, to a calm sea and a prosperous voyage through the year. In the meantime the start of the year feels like a period full of energy, there to draw on and absorb – and I’ve just returned from a spontaneous storytelling session with Danyah Miller and the Society of Authors which has produced lots of ideas and, indeed, energy – so it’s time to harness that energy and get the new year truly underway.

the old year recedes
spring beckons
flurry of snow