HAPPY NEW YEAR

After a while, I am now back to this blog. I haven't been in position to write. Now the life seems to be more or less back to normal, so I will try to catch up a little with what we have been through these recent months.

We may say that it is already a tradition that, in the New Year Eve, together with our friends Roger and Valerie Hazelden, we go to the forest, decorate a tree, sing some corals and have some warm drink. So we did it this time, too.

PHOTO: ROGER HAZELDEN

The weather was beautiful, only some 7 degrees below zero. Full moon was shining over the treetops. And silence.

Only later we learned that there had been a partial lunar eclipse exactly the time when we were in the forest. But, not knowing of that beforehand, we did not even notice.

One more funny thing was that, having come to our traditional place, we discovered that THE tree we always used to decorate was cut down and taken home by somebody. So we had to find another tree, which was not that difficult since there is no shortage of fir in Stelpe forest.

After having sung Silent Night, Holy Night and wished each other a happy year, we returned to our homes to hear the prime minister trying to persuade the people pay the increased taxes when it was hard enough to get the ends meet even with the old rates. The president of the State, in his turn, tried to dissuade the nation from the deep rooting desire for a strong leader - dictator, who would call the corrupt MPs and government officials to justice, saying that a dictatorship would put an end also to the long cherished dream of freedom and democracy.