The End is Near – Thank Heavens!

It’s New Year’s Eve. It was meant to be a peaceful and quiet day for me like every year, but life doesn’t always give you what you want.

I had to go out. That’s because I wished to post a letter and needed a stamp that I didn’t have at home. Unfortunately I hadn’t noticed in time. Bad mistake! What a hustle and bustle there was in the shopping centre just before noon! The post office, too, was packed with people, stressed women, impatient men. All counters were open, but there was a queue all the same. It didn’t matter to me. It never does. I can wait – others can’t. Mind you, I had hardly arrived there and people in front of me started quarrelling! What for? To be at the counter thirty seconds sooner? It was ridiculous. I bought my stamp and away I was. Altogether I passed no more than five minutes in that madhouse. Enough to put me out of temper for a while.

The end of the year always makes me feel annoyed with people. I turn downright misanthropic! I use to stay at home alone and no, I don’t feel lonesome. I enjoy it! As a matter of fact, I’ve never been cut out for big parties. They exhaust me too much. When I’m surrounded by a group of chatty people – even such I like – I virtually drown in a sea of impressions. Faces, voices, perfumes melt into a viscous mass jamming the nerve connections of my brain. What wonder that my mind goes blank! It takes time to process so much information. Moreover it’s all so overwhelming that I’m getting depressed instead of cheerful. Try to explain that to someone who enjoys celebrating! For me it’s just an ordeal that I avoid whenever I can. Without explanation because it would be in vain.

There’s something else that drives me crazy at the turn of the year: the fireworks. I hate them. To me they are a noisy waste of money and natural resources. Put fire to a bundle of banknotes, throw it from the top window of your building and you’ll get the same effect! You may argue now that fireworks are a beautiful sight. They are colourful and shining, that’s true. However, what I see isn’t what disturbs me. The banging and hissing that start already days, even weeks before New Year’s Day hurt my ears. They also scare small children, people in need of rest and senior citizens, not to mention all those poor animals around who must feel like Armageddon were in full swing. None of the amateur pyrotechnists in my neighbourhood seems to waste a single thought on them. And what about the smoke and the smell? No way that you can take a deep breath of fresh air during a firework or the hours after. It makes me feel sick and the odds are that I’ll have a migraine tomorrow. Well, others will have a hangover, so I won’t be so much worse off really.

My plans for tonight? Keep my windows closed and try my best to be fast asleep at midnight. If everything works out fine, I won’t even notice the fireworks. And tomorrow most of the hubbub will be over. 

Happy New Year!