Wednesday, December 31, 2014

It's Hogmanay...

Hi Everyone...it's Hogmanay...when Scots across the world say goodbye to the old year and welcome in the new. Back in the day the house would be cleaned from top to bottom...it was the only night of the year that us kids were allowed to stay up all night to take part in the old tradition of first footing...visiting family friends and neighbours with a bottle of the water of life...a lump of coal...shortbread and black bun to bring luck to the household for the coming year...wonderful memories of a sing-a-long round the piano at one neighbour's house...a big bowl of Scotch Broth in another...left-over Turkey sandwiches in the next and as dawn broke...breakfast in whichever house you found yourself before returning home for the traditional New Year's Dinner of Roast Beef and all the trimmings and no matter how many people were in the house at the time...all were welcome to join the feast...crikey that must have been a logistical nightmare for my Mum...planning for 10 and ending up with goodness knows how many happy but very hungry revellers. Sadly it's a tradition that's all but gone replaced by what is now normal on any Saturday night...the drunken city centre behaviour and the nemesis of this dog owner...the dreaded fireworks. I really don't want to spoil anyone's party but Mrs Bah Humbug will be praying for some atrocious lashing rain and howling gale Scottish weather so that the well into the small hours WW2 barrage turns into a great big damp squib.
I'll also be passing on the cleaning part of the tradition...instead I'll be tackling a far more important task...transferring birthdays...hot dates etc from the 2014 calendar to a brand new one...
mind you this still does NOT guarantee that I will turn up for important appointments on the correct date and seeing as it's unlikely that a tall dark stranger will be ringing the doorbell at midnight...the Furry Boy and his Grumpy Old Mum will be tucked up in bed as soon after midnight as is deemed socially acceptable.
Have fun whatever you have planned for tonight and we'll see you all in 2015
Hugs Kath xxx