Random musings...

I suppose I am not being highly original as I tell you that this is the time of year that you start reminiscing, but also try to figure out what certain relationships mean in your life and how you fit into the environs you have created over the years.
I will not bore you with too many details, but in our Queen's speech this year the main theme was that people are getting lonelier and more and more inconsiderate, I suppose more selfish, because of the digital age. People do not communicate face to face anymore because of all the instant messaging, texting, twittering and blogging that is going on. They lose sight of what binds them together and get more and more individualistic.
And sometimes that feels true, but for me, I sense a turning point this year. I really, truly think that at the same time people are getting more aware of the need of others and are getting more community spirit. ( something that never has been very prevalent in this country). When I look around me, indeed when I look at the last two weeks in my neighbourhood, I see things that never happened before. We had a massive snowball fight in which almost everyone in our street took part, we had a Christmas singalong in which a lot of people took part and tomorrow we will have a street party for New Year's Eve. We will all gather around 23.30 hours, count in the New Year and let off fireworks together and if the Christmas do was something to go by it will be tremendous fun! Anyhow, these are all things that did not happen before, so I think that there is hope for humanity yet.
Hope I did not bore you too much with all this, it was just playing on my mind today. Tomorrow I will bake/fry loads of oliebollen (traditional Dutch New Year's Eve fodder) for the party, and the house will probably smell much the same as the stall I started this post off with.
I started the other day on my to-read pile, which is about 4 times my height now, so really something needs to be done about that, as by no means that stops me from buying new books. I bought this one last summer, and was actually really looking forward to reading it, but somehow did not get round to it before...I am sure it is not meant to be read from cover to cover, but I am really enjoying it that way. It makes me realise that I can create a very cozy, safe atmosphere around me by doing the things I enjoy and by making time to be creative or do things together with other people. I love it, and there is lots of inspirations to be got from it, if only it was to wear Cashmere (this one made me giggle).
If ever you feel you want to read something heart-warming (for want of a better word), I can not recommend anything better than this, it is truly lovely.

Keep safe with the fireworks!