Happy New year….2023

On waking yesterday, I was already well aware that we were well on our way to embarking on yet another year…I had no great plans nor celebrations in mind, just a slow relaxed slide into 2023, (first time of writing that😁, now see if I can remember it later)..myself and Jesse had however planned to cook together, both buying a steak, frozen oven Steak chips, mushrooms, green beans etcetera, ….I admit I rarely buy steak for myself, let alone a decent cut, last night was though to be the exception, we had so looked forward to the feast all week,(that’s always the best bit isn’t it the anticipation, looking forward to our culinary delights our cooking skills have improved leaps and bounds over the years) ….but I have to confess here…what I was really looking forward to were those Chips(fries). I had avoided carbs since last April. So was drooling at just the Mere thought….

In the knowledge of this very thing, I had made the decision I wouldn’t eat anything during that day, (choosing instead to save up those calories like an excited child saving pocket money. My stomach growled several times throughout that day with protest, but I held it at bay, with three large mugs of steaming coffee and the promise of those thick cut golden crispy chips, the day seemed to go on forever, but we finally gave into the call of hunger around 7pm …I could hold out not a moment more…my insides gnawed at me with hunger, So the cooking process finally began in earnest…

Sheer Gluttony…..

Only problem with cooking when your stomach is doing it’s best grizzly bear impressions, is you tend to a wee bit crazy and portion control or there lack of goes straight out the window…..after cooking the steak to perfection I left it to rest in foil while I set about the prized chips, (oh that smell as I opened the bag, all that starchy, greasy, carb filled goodness, I swear it was all I could do to not give in to temptation and shove a frozen chip straight in my mouth there and then..my hand strayed with a chip betwixt to fingers nearer and nearer my waiting mouth…I was valiant, a warrior…and fought back those tempting potato morsels…reluctantly confining them on their baking sheet to my waiting oven…the countdown began 😋😁.

I tried every kind of distraction, while the wait went on, and on, and on…..it was indeed the longest twenty minutes in my lifetime … I paced restlessly, doing chores that really didn’t require my immediate attention, like hanging up a large courtyard scene picture I had been bought for Christmas by Jesse,(it looks beautiful after all said and done, but in truth there had been no hurry, I just wanted to fill time., Jesse filled time bustling about his kitchen, cleaning and tripping over his large slumbering ginger cat…talking away to the dog…both our minds on one thing though…Chips!!!!!!!!

At last my oven pinged, I rushed out to the kitchen…the glorious warm smells assaulted my nostrils all at once….I was going to have food at long last…and no matter what I was going to enjoy it!!!!!, I had over estimated the chips, (well it had as I said been a while, and I was making up for lost time. As I shuffled them eagerly off the baking sheet into my plate, I saw just how overboard I had gone, the chips barely fitting my dinner plate…let alone the steak, beans and mushrooms.😁😁😁😁😁😁, that plate groaned with its contents, but I did not by now care a jot, because I had chips !!!!!!!!!.

I think In all I did my meal justice, despite its size and magnitude,😁😁😁😁😁, my stomach by now growling for a whole different reason I settled in for the new years eve night, listening to the premature explosions of early lit fireworks, loud crackles, bangs and whistles only broken up by a far off neighbouring party…Gangnam style carried across by the last prevailing winds of 2022, on the whole though our little Cul De Sac remained dark, untouched by surrounding celebration…..I was saddened somewhat remembering those far off heady days of my childhood.

New years Eve had been a big deal in my section of Essex in the early 70s, it’s was the one and only night we were allowed up passed 8pm,….Houses all lit up all over the neighbourhood , front doors stood open wide, welcoming exuberant party goers, some stood around glasses in hand, leaning none to soberly against anything near to hold the aloft, shouts of greetings, smell of cigarettes, stale beer filled the air, badly sung songs, half the words slurred or amiss would have made Suzi Quattro shudder or smile 😁,

But always just before 12, silence earily fell, music stopped, until shouts of the countdown began…..five, four, three, two, one!!!!!, An explosion of activity hit our street, neighbours both young and old stood at their gates, boats on the Thames horns blaring signalling it was midnight, it was time, then hand held bells rang out, saucepan lids clashing together, football clackers, tin whistles, anything you could lay your hands on to make noise….dogs merrily joined in with their owners excitement….children ran out pyjama clad up and down with friends…neighbours shouted across to one another…. “Happy New year Mrs clark”, “Happy New year Beaty”, !!!!!, my own mother shouting “quick open up the front Door wide let in the new year..back door by now already propped open to let out the old….we shivered in the chill of the dying minutes of that last December night, but no one cared as such it was a magical night filled with excitement…..Some filled also with Harvey’s Bristol cream Sherry😁,

When I compared this to the year just past…it’s with some sadness I admit, no one came out to welcome in the new year…loudness of firework the exception, the bells have all fallen silent, whistles, saucepan lids firmly confined to their pans, no distant hooting from boats on the Thames…calls to neighbours, mainly because half of us no longer know each other…now we text!…..we send our silent Gifs to our Facebook friends, watch celebrations on tv either with one another or alone….long gone days and tradition no more, hauntingly silenced by technology…. This said however you saw in your new years folks, I wish your 2023, to be the best of years, filled with hope, promise, happiness and prosperity…in all I wish you peace and love ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤