Thursday, December 07, 2006

[want to escape] the horror of the silly season

Today, I learnt the word for ‘I’ll be hiding’ in Russian: ‘Спрячюсь! Spryachoos.’ That’s the answer to the question: ‘What are you doing for New Year?’

I plan to be hiding from Friday December 22nd until Saturday, January 2nd. If anyone rings on the bell during that time [well, actually they can’t because it’s disconnected] or knocks on the door [well, actually they can’t because there’s a triple security door system], then we’ll just go to ground until they go away. Everything will be via the e-mail or website.

Why so? Firstly, there’s absolutely nothing I can see to celebrate at this time of year except Bethlehem and that can be done on January 7th in Russia, after all the madness has passed. This, now, is the time of year when we’re at our most weary, when we’re at our lowest financial ebb, when all we want to do at night is curl up in a warm room with one’s love, when all the prices are sky high, when the roads are absolute mayhem, when everyone’s coughing all over everyone else and the wisest course is to quarantine oneself.

There’s so much false bonhomie when people who’ve walked past you all year or wouldn’t have given you the time of day suddenly lose all sense of proportion and wish to press-gang you into some sort of enforced group frenzy. It’s like they’ve been injected with a dervish pill and the drunken shrieks and hysteria rend the night as they grimly ‘let their hair down’. Don’t get me wrong – there’s nothing wrong that a few whiskies won’t fix with friends or at the pub - ordinarily – but not with a bunch of complete strangers who’ve taken leave of their senses during the silly season.

Stephen Pollard wrote a classic on this matter last year [an abridged version of his article appears here] but I’ve also reprinted a comment by a girl which gets very close to the real reason I’ll be hiding. It’s an incredibly lonely time of the year.

5 comments:

  1. I agree, James, I hate it. Will be with [small] family for Christmas week but I'll be relieved when it's all over.

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  2. I agree - NYE. A pointless occasion. Celebrating what? - the last full year of Bliar - worse to come under the large Scottish Communist I suspect.

    In the meantime, please join in the biscuit debate (this stupid country post) happening here

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  3. I hate it particularly because I feel forced to be happy particularly on New Year's Eve. Only once have I enjoyed NYE and that was because I was with four close friends and a girlfriend and was just sitting drinking and talking into the night with some food and a couple of good DVDs- apart from that they've all been damp squibs.

    Ah well- I'm hoping to get Israel's new book on the enlightenment from someone for Christmas so that'll be one good thing at least.

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  4. Jeremycj, tried both your links and the first led me to a Trojan and the second nowhere. I'll try your own site next. Mr E and Tiberius, thanks for the input, showing we're not alone on this thing.

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