{"id":9810,"date":"2023-12-31T19:18:28","date_gmt":"2023-12-31T17:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=9810"},"modified":"2023-12-31T19:18:31","modified_gmt":"2023-12-31T17:18:31","slug":"why-happy-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/why-happy-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Happy New Year?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

You said it last year, you’ll say it again … probably<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

31 December 2023 ~ Why Happy New Year?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardly a year goes by without somebody saying, and I believe that I have said it myself, \u201cThank God that 1987, 1999, 2020 (whatever the year) is over. It\u2019s been an awful year for me. Let\u2019s hope that the next one will be better.\u201d So off we go to the New Year\u2019s party, drink copiously, leap around, get wildly and uncontrollably drunk ~ don\u2019t you! ~ pop the champagne corks, countdown the minutes to 12 and on the strike of midnight shout ‘Hooray and Happy New Year\u2019. In short, we do everything we are supposed to do. We play it by tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come the next morning, nothing has changed. It\u2019s just as grey, cold and wet outside as it was the day before. The holidays are over, and in a day\u2019s time it will be back to the treadmill of work. The New Year stretches before us, not the Yellow Brick Road of the night before but a long, bumpy, uneven track seemingly heading nowhere. And to add to the disconsolation, there\u2019s also the terrible hangover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nihilistic, is that what you say? Or perhaps, what a miserable bugger!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Happy New Year?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s roll back the decades and take a look at the event-grabbing headlines that defined the \u2018Happy New Years’ of those specific years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy New Year: 2014<\/strong>
1. Global Bola epidemic
2. Malaysian airline disaster
3. Rise of the terror group ISIS
4. Black Riots in America

Happy New Year: 2002<\/strong>
1. Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
2. President George Bush delivers his \u2018Axis of Evil\u2019 speech
3. Two Snipers in Washington DC kill and injure people
4. Terrorists detonate bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing more than 200 people<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy New Year: 1992<\/strong>
1. Black riots in Los Angeles
2. Pro-abortion demonstrations in Washington
3. Major earthquake in Turkey
4. First McDonalds in China<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy New Year: 1982<\/strong>
1. Argentina invades the Falkland Islands
2. Tylenol capsules impregnated with potassium cyanide kill 7 people in Chicago
3. Genetic Engineering is used commercially for the first time
4. IRA bombing campaign in London

Happy New Year: 1972<\/strong>
1. Watergate {death by boredom}
2. The Munich Olympics Massacre by Palestinian terrorists
3. Northern Ireland, the Bogside Massacre
4. Vietnam War drags on<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, newsworthy calamities such as those listed above pertain to world events. On the scale of our own lives, we have to back-peddle somewhat to bring together the recollections of all that was said and done over the months preceding the New Year bash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Happy<\/figure>
\n

Happy New Year from a rather strange potato<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Now there\u2019s an exercise for you. If you don\u2019t keep a diary, and you jolly well should, grab a pen and a piece of paper and jot down a list of events and incidents that define in your opinion the past 12 months of your life. When done, back-track through the list and mark the incidents and events that gave and brought you happiness with a smiley-faced emoji and those that caused you harm or grief with, if you happen to have one handy, a two-fingered \u2018V\u2019 sign. Next, just tot them up and compare the \u2018Happy\u2019 to \u2018F..K Off!\u2019 score to determine what sort of year you have had and the quality of life you are having. At the end of this simple exercise, hopefully but most unlikely, you should be able to say, \u201cWhat a stonking good year that was. If 2024 is anything like its predecessor, my life going forward is right on track\u201d. Have you been able to say this? Welcome to the minority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could say, if you belonged to a certain generation, that \u2018it\u2019s being so cheerful that keeps me going\u2019 and that\u2019s why my New Year\u2019s resolution for 2024 is going to be \u2018Smile though your heart is breaking\u2019. I\u2019ll let you know how my new business venture, \u2018Rent a Life & Soul of the Party\u2019 is doing 12 months from now, if I\u2019m still doing time here on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, enjoy yourselves, and I hope you\u2019ll be able to say this time next year that 2024 was the best year of my life. (snigger).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy New Year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Why
Happy New Year UK! It’s at the end of that rainbow!<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2018-2023 Mick Hart. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You said it last year, you’ll say it again … probably 31 December 2023 ~ Why Happy New Year? Hardly a year goes by without somebody saying, and I believe that I have said it myself, \u201cThank God that 1987, 1999, 2020 (whatever the year) is over. It\u2019s been an awful year for me. Let\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2104,6],"tags":[2267,71,2271,2269],"class_list":["post-9810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mick-harts-diary-2023","category-kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary","tag-happy-new-year","tag-mick-harts-diary","tag-why-happy-new-year-2024","tag-why"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2024-min.jpg?fit=1599%2C899&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2828,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/2020-memories-are-made-of-this\/","url_meta":{"origin":9810,"position":0},"title":"2020 Memories are made of this","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"31 \u0434\u0435\u043a\u0430\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Diary of a Self-isolator: Day 292 [31 December 2020]or Goodbye 2020, if I never see you again will it be too soon? Published: 31 December 2020 ~ 2020 Memories are made of this The End is Nigh! Well, you would think so from the aggregated hype bubbling furiously over the\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2019\/2020"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2019\/2020","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/diary-2019-2020\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Happy 2021 from Zelenogradsk Russia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Happy-New-Year-FROM-ZELENOGRADSK-russia-2021.png?fit=554%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Happy-New-Year-FROM-ZELENOGRADSK-russia-2021.png?fit=554%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Happy-New-Year-FROM-ZELENOGRADSK-russia-2021.png?fit=554%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1927,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/englishman-chilling-in-zelenogradsk-with-bear-beer\/","url_meta":{"origin":9810,"position":1},"title":"Englishman Chilling in Zelenogradsk with Bear & Beer","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"8 \u0430\u0432\u0433\u0443\u0441\u0442\u0430, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Diary of a Self-isolator: Day 141 [2 August 2020] Published: 8 August 2020 'You ought to get out more!' Since the birth of coronavirus, the intentional irony in this off-hand remark has taken on a whole new irrational meaning. We know that we want to get out more, but we\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2019\/2020"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2019\/2020","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/diary-2019-2020\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Englishman Chilling in Zelenogradsk with Bear & Beer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/With-a-bear.jpg?fit=555%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/With-a-bear.jpg?fit=555%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/With-a-bear.jpg?fit=555%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3447,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/spring-brings-people-out-in-kaliningrad\/","url_meta":{"origin":9810,"position":2},"title":"Spring Brings People Out in Kaliningrad","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"12 \u0430\u043f\u0440\u0435\u043b\u044f, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Diary of a Self-isolator: Day 394 [12 April 2021]And what has all this got to do with coronavirus and self-isolation? Published: 12 April 2021 ~ Spring Brings People Out in Kaliningrad With the temperature shooting up to a \u2018very nice spring day\u2019 18 degrees, my wife, Olga, had no difficulty\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2021"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2021","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/diary-2021\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring Brings People Out in Kaliningrad","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/People-out-in-Kaliningrad-Rz-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C554&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/People-out-in-Kaliningrad-Rz-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C554&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/People-out-in-Kaliningrad-Rz-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C554&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/People-out-in-Kaliningrad-Rz-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C554&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/People-out-in-Kaliningrad-Rz-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C554&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10061,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/kaliningrad-victory-square-flowers-of-condolence\/","url_meta":{"origin":9810,"position":3},"title":"Kaliningrad Victory Square Flowers of Condolence","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"24 \u043c\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"24 March 2024 National Day of Mourning 24 March 2024 ~ Kaliningrad Victory Square Flowers of Condolence Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared 24 March to be a national day of mourning. As the death toll from Russia\u2019s worst terrorist attack for almost two decades reaches 137,\u00a0moving scenes in Kaliningrad\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Kaliningrad: Mick Hart's Diary"","block_context":{"text":"Kaliningrad: Mick Hart's Diary","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kaliningrad Victory Square Flowers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Kaliningrad-Victory-Square-Flowers-Day-of-Mourning.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Kaliningrad-Victory-Square-Flowers-Day-of-Mourning.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Kaliningrad-Victory-Square-Flowers-Day-of-Mourning.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Kaliningrad-Victory-Square-Flowers-Day-of-Mourning.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14379,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/mick-harts-diary\/","url_meta":{"origin":9810,"position":4},"title":"Mick Hart’s Diary One Day in Travel Trade Publishing","author":"Mick","date":"1 \u043c\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"15 May 1996 On recounting some of my experiences of working in the publishing industry, some wag asked, back in the 90s, \u201cSo, what are you going to do when you leave school?\u201d 1 March 2026 - Mick Hart's Diary One Day in Travel Trade Publishing The following diary extract\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Mick Hart's Diary 2026"","block_context":{"text":"Mick Hart's Diary 2026","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/mick-harts-diary-2026\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mick Hart's Diaries 1996 notebooks","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rz-Mick-Harts-Diaries-1990s-rotated.jpg?fit=900%2C1195&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rz-Mick-Harts-Diaries-1990s-rotated.jpg?fit=900%2C1195&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rz-Mick-Harts-Diaries-1990s-rotated.jpg?fit=900%2C1195&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rz-Mick-Harts-Diaries-1990s-rotated.jpg?fit=900%2C1195&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13865,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/christmas-past-roundup-of-xmas-and-new-year-posts\/","url_meta":{"origin":9810,"position":5},"title":"Christmas past: roundup of Xmas and New Year posts","author":"Mick","date":"8 \u0434\u0435\u043a\u0430\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A glance over my Christmas shoulder 8 December 2025 - Christmas past: roundup of Xmas and New Year posts Rolling back the years to revisit comments and observations on Christmases past, looking back particularly on those coronavirus specials, no matter how grim we may feel about the world today and\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Kaliningrad: Mick Hart's Diary"","block_context":{"text":"Kaliningrad: Mick Hart's Diary","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kerstnacht 1894 drawing","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rz-Kerstnacht-min.jpg?fit=754%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rz-Kerstnacht-min.jpg?fit=754%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rz-Kerstnacht-min.jpg?fit=754%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rz-Kerstnacht-min.jpg?fit=754%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}