Tales from Crete | 65

Welcome to a brand new year….

In some strange way, I always think it's a little sad to say goodbye to an old and used year on New Year's Eve, only to start a brand new and unused year a second later. It is a mixture of feelings that both reach back and at the same time reach forward. We know what we are leaving but we have no idea what the new year will bring.

This is perhaps also the reason why many of us give ourselves some New Year's resolutions, because it is such a suitable cut-off day to change something that you want to change, and there are almost no limits to what a New Year's resolution can be. But most are now quite simple and, as a rule, very sensible. It can, for example, be: I want to lose x number of kilos within a year, I want to stop smoking, I want to remember to give my wife flowers every first of the month, I give up all kinds of spirits and only drink water throughout the year. I once asked an acquaintance in Crete if it wasn't getting harder and harder to always come up with New Year's resolutions? But no, it was very easy, he said. You just had to take the same ones as the year before and if you had more, you could always change the order a bit. He's actually right, because it's not often that when the clock approaches midnight on December 31, one's New Year's resolution comes to the table. My New Year's resolution is that I want to lose x number of kilos, you say, after which you immediately, when the clock has struck 12, take an extra piece of wreath cake, just to have something sweet with the champagne, after which you go outside and have a smoke and looking at the New Year's fireworks, while you forget everything that it is now the 1st of the month and you actually also had an intention to give your wife a bouquet of flowers. You take an extra glass of the delicious champagne and also nibble on a single piece of wreath cake on the way back in. In principle, the new year is no more than half an hour old and you have already broken 3 of the promises you made to yourself. The only resolution that hasn't been broken yet is the flowers for the wife. With a bit of luck, you think about it during the afternoon of New Year's Day, and wander around confused to find a flower shop that is open, only to end up at the nearest petrol station, pulling a bundle of half-withered twigs out of a vase, at best, just buy a pack of cigarettes (now you're there anyway) and then find out that they have "make your own candy" on offer - a temptation that's hard to avoid. If you are really unlucky, you also run into the neighbor who, like you, is down to get flowers for the wife, and then there is no other way out than of course to wish each other a happy New Year with a cold one from the box.

What can be learned from it? - Nothing at all other than that it is rare for New Year's resolutions to last very long. Statistically speaking, most people only last a few weeks into the new year at best.

"Intention" is, according to the Danish dictionary, a decision to act or live in a certain way, possibly more moral or healthier. In other words, it is a kind of declaration of intent that you make with yourself, and as such it is not worth much.

I've long since dropped those New Year's resolutions, because I'm definitely one of those who can't keep them anyway. I don't know if it's because I have the backbone of a cup of cocoa milk, but it shouldn't take away the spark from others. Therefore, this year I have made a New Year's resolution for myself, which I am determined to fulfill to the full. My New Year's resolution is that I want to go to Crete this year!!!. There should be a really good chance of complying, because already at Easter I'm leaving on my first trip, I'll be there for a few weeks and then also go there for a few months in the summer and autumn, and since the trips are already planned, I'm reasonable sure that in this way I can help to change the statistics of fulfilled New Year's resolutions a little. And it IS actually a real New Year's resolution, because it is both healthy for body and soul and good for health.

If you want to join, stop by elenasrejser.dk and find the tour that suits you.

Maybe we'll see you in Crete

"Kalo mina"