New Year’s Day frantic antics!

So here we are in 2018. Nothing seems radically different. We still don’t know what Brexit has in store for us. Some of us still hope it might not happen after all - a forlorn hope! The President of the United States is still governing by tweets, turning his attention to Pakistan, accusing that country of lying and harbouring terrorists. That should be good for international relations.

We began 2018 with a long walk home from our friend’s house at about 3.00 am. It was a beautifully clear night with a splendid moon, not as cold as we have sometimes known it. This is something that we often do, having discovered that taxis, even when prebooked, have a tendency not to turn up on New Year’s morning. Besides, it’s a good way to walk off the excesses of the evening.

Later in the day, having slept for long enough, we decided to stretch our legs some more. The sun had been popping out from time to time and it looked promising. Not far up the hill however, thin rain started to fall. So we turned back and went home.

Some people begin the New Year with a swim. Back in the days when Southport (where I grew up) still had an outdoor pool, the sea bathing lake, my father used to one of a group who went there every New Year’s Day for a brief early morning swim.

Incidentally, here is a link to a set of rather fine pictures of the sea bathing lake. They used to hold bathing beauty competitions there in the summer time, back in a more innocent age, when such competitions were still acceptable.

While I am getting nostalgic for disappeared attractions from my home town, here is a link to some pictures of the model village, the Land of the Little People, that our son loved to visit in his childhood.

Getting back to New Year’s Day swimming, it appears to be a common occurrence. In Scheveningen, a Dutch seaside resort, around 10,000 people dive collectively into the sea - this is a "Nieuwjaarsduik".

In South Queensferry, Scotland, they call it the “Loony Dook” and the loonies dress up in fancy dress and parade through the town before plunging into the sea.

They do it in Gibraltar as well, but on Boxing Day and I suspect the water is not quite so cold there. 

In many places, especially it seems in North America, they make this into a fundraising event and call it the Polar Bear Plunge. This year, however, much of North America is in the grip of icy weather and they have cancelled because it is too dangerous. In Milwaukee, for example, they were expecting -13C at the time planned for the event.

Of course, this does not mean that climate change is a reality!