vailian

New Year’s came as it always does in Cologne: with about an hour of unbroken fireworks. The weather was fairly kind, it is unseasonably warm and the predicted rainstorm kindly held off until the middle of the night. The above video is not very professional, but it gives some idea of the view from my apartment. I had 6 guests, a decent number, and we had no embarassing pauses in the conversation. The Ossie had a performance so she didn’t get here until around 11, but by the time she did arrive we had all the food out and a nice fire in the fireplace. We managed to get through a bottle of wine per person, about normal here. The menu was tomato soup and turkish bread and chips and cheese and sausages and many desserts.
It is that time of year again: the New Year’s Resolutions. Resolutions made with solemn ceremony, usually broken with only the slightest pang of regret within days or even hours. We usually make some feeble promise to limit the self-indulgences, to be good and patient with those we are tempted to not be good and patient with, to focus more on the things we want to be remembered for.
I am going to try this year to try to keep the promises I make to people, which necessarily involves perhaps making fewer promises.