Smudger Snippets: Another Year
Created | Updated Jan 13, 2013
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
Another Year
Well here we are, another New Year, another chance to change it all, or just modify a few things. This is the time we make our resolutions, our plans for the future, or this coming year at the least. We use this time to reflect back on the year just passed, and recall the good times and the bad times, along with the events and people who made a difference to our lives.
It seems the way we celebrate this event has changed over the years, or maybe it’s just us that have changed. For example, back in my younger days we used to meet up at the town clock in my small home town up North, to see in the New Year. The local pipe band would march along the street in full regalia, playing as they marched. Then continue to play to the crowd right up until the bells. Then after they all shared in a wee dram, with the crowd, they would start up again, and march away.
It really was a spectacle to be part of, everyone was friendly, and there was never any trouble to speak of. Then, after we had seen in the bells at the clock, we used to make our way to family and friends houses as first footers. Where after we had another wee dram, we would be offered homemade ham shank soup, followed by cloutie dumpling, which every Mum, Auntie or Granny would have prepared earlier.
This was eaten and enjoyed by us all, to soak up the drink, as they kept telling us at the time. I suppose it did that as well, or maybe it was just because we were younger, and could hold our drink better. Either way, we always enjoyed that time of year: there was an atmosphere that it’s really hard to describe, it was a case of, you had to be there, to share it and be part of it. No matter whose house you went to, you were made welcome, even strangers would turn up, and be treated like they were family; it really was a magical time of the year.
So you can imagine our disappointment when we took a trip up North, a few years ago, in an effort to relive the good old days, and stayed with a friend who we know from the time we lived there. To be honest we were shocked. The crowd at the clock was still there, but all the old faces we knew were all gone. The new crowd were no way as well behaved, in fact, instead of the two local “bobbies” (police) that used to be there, there were about 30 policemen, complete with a van full of riot police on standby, in case they were required.
Trouble broke out amongst the crowd even before the pipe band arrived, which was another disappointment, as they turned up in plain clothes, not the full regalia they used to wear. Even then they only played for a few minutes, and marched away at least ten minutes before the bells. When I asked one of the Bobbies about this, he told me that ever since a riot that had occurred a few years earlier, where a few of the pipe band were attacked by some thugs in the crowd, they have never stayed to see in the bells.
Gone was the friendly atmosphere, where if you were a bit drunk, folk took care of you, gone was the whole idea of first footing, along with the cloutie dumplings and homemade ham shank soup. In fact everything was gone. We didn’t stay long, after the brawling started, and the bottles started to fly. We came home with a sad feeling; in fact we hardly exchanged a word during the three hour drive across the Highlands back home. We both left totally disappointed with what happened, but at least we had the memories of what used to be, and as my wife said to me, it’s just a sign of the modern times - after all, that all happened before the millennium. I sometimes wonder did it start to change from that point on.
