New Year Sails Y
es, we’re off once again, this time into 2022, a year which surely featured in childhood TV programmes like “The Jetsons” and “Lost in Space”. I’ve never cared for the ritual New Year’s Eve countdown but every time, just seconds later, there comes a genuine buzz of expectation. Okay, sometimes it’s the unpredictable Vin Rouge/Crème Brûlée combo but, more often it’s the dawn breaking on another year holding, however briefly, the possibility of a better world.
exit one year and go barrelling into the next.
A side note: years ago, I was invited to undergo a test designed to reveal which side of my brain is dominant. The left would indicate an aptitude for logic and strategic thinking, excellent for interpreting data, a key management function. This was, at the time, a significant, if soul-destroying, part of my job. It turned out I have the analytical skills of a wombat. I was far more interested in trying to understand people rather than numbers. Albert Einstein It's also the Chinese year of the Tiger. In noted astutely that not everything we this ancient system the animals revolve in measure matters, and not a 12-year cycle and everything which matters those born in a Tiger can be measured. Me and Al year not only have were as one on that. lucky numbers (1,3, Without these and 4) but also lucky treasures, life is So, why is this relevant to a directions, (north, new year? Since you ask, it’s monochrome south, and east). because my right-brain Apparently, south-west dominant, Janet-and-John is not too clever for worldview is endearingly them this year. A tricky simplistic in most other things too. Rather one, that. than focus on the empirical fact of leaving the past further behind with each passing I’m immune to anything remotely New year, I marvel instead at how much we Year horoscopy like this. I’m aware that it actually bring along with us. Essentially, holds great cultural importance to millions we’re bobbing along a meandering river in of Chinese people but I struggle with its an overloaded canoe, (do keep up at the central idea. It must be the Sagittarius in back). In the boat with us are our loved me. To be fair, though, its credibility takes ones and behind them sits an enormous a pummelling when you know that UK pile of, well, stuff. It’s everything we can’t Prime Minister Boris Johnson was born in do without: the myriad experiences, 1964, a Dragon year. According to the beliefs and memories we’ve accumulated ‘China Highlights’ website, these along the way. Without these treasures, individuals symbolise “’nobleness and life is monochrome. honour’, they are introverted, and their unlucky colour is blue. In 2022 they have a If we’re fortunate, our pile grows each year high possibility of being promoted.” Brace (think of the immortal movie line “We’re yourselves. going to need a bigger boat”). This highly personal cargo takes up a lot of the Anyway, since this month is in fact named available space in our canoe but, crucially, for the Roman god Janus, who faced both when currents swirl and rapids threaten, behind and ahead, let me pause this it’s this ballast which steadies us. You can unhinged optimism for a moment as we
Brian White lives in south Indre with his wife, too many moles and not enough guitars
probably see now why I flunked the brain test. But I stand firm on this. There’s a great line (actually several) in the 1989 film, “Dead Poets Society”. Robin Williams, in his finest role, plays an English teacher at an elite private school, encouraging the boys to think for themselves. He tells them, “Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love - these are what we stay alive for.” Bravo, say I. At this very moment as I type, one of my couldn’t-be-without gems “Close to the Edge”, the 1972 album by Yes – is playing. It’s enriched my life for coming up to fifty years and I just cannot imagine living without such sublime music. There is plenty more, as you would guess, in the pile where that comes from. So, as we turn together onto a new stretch of the river, I’ll share a cracking piece of advice I was once given by someone of whom I was very fond. It urges us to navigate our own route and avoid being swayed by those whose judgement may differ from our own. And – even better – it’s French. Well, sort of . . . (it’s best said out loud quickly): “Pas d’elle yeux Rhône que nous”. In 2022 I wish you serene waters and a growing pile of treasures. Happy sailing.
etcetera 17