Another year has begun

Feli, Thomas, Rupert and Brigitte (who came down for New Years from Switzerland)

Andrea,Brigitte and an unknown person
on the dance floor
One good thing about our New Years eve party was that, at least to begin with, everybody was doing their own thing and the usual forced jollity was to a large extent dispensed with. At the outset we seemed to be divided into three lots. The first lot (which included me) was playing charades with the kids, another two or three individuals were munching away in the kitchen and the third lot of people were watching a karate film on TV, in my bedroom which is actually the living room which I have taken over. A little past ten, we got together for dinner after which things got genuinely a bit more merry (no doubt the wine helped). We had some goo...oood danceable music which had everyone on the floor including Suhail who was twisting and turning away and simulaneously clutching his back which has been giving him problems for the last several months.

Petra

I think the best thing that evening was Petra trumpeting the New Year in at midnight, from the terrace of the house. The sound floating through the night air while all around firecrackers were strewing the sky with stars and petals of pink, green and yellow light, was awesome. The mound of dishes on the dining table got me feeling a bit down towards the end but with a whole lot of helping hands it was cleared away in no time and we wound up the evening with some live music - Thomas and Petra on the guitar and the rest of us contributing with vocals.
Thomas playing us a goodnight song
As it happens with all good things coming to an end, and Suhail and Shasha having to leave yesterday evening back for Paris, the wind blew in a bit of depression. Even the sky turned grey and the sun was replaced by rain and snow. But life goes on and things are getting back to normal again. Sigh. Oh well, it feels good, in a way, getting back to one's regular tempo again.