HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We keep saying the same thing every year, and yet, we will never see it happen. I am talking about the ":Happy New Year" wishes. Of course as a single individual we can feel that we are happy and we should, really! But the world, our world will never be at peace. Ever since I have been born, which is awfully long ago, there hasn't been a single day that the world has been at peace. Wars and armed conflicts have been raging on at all times, dominating daily news and costing the lives of so many people.

2023 was no exception and 2024 won't be either.

Evil forces tend to grab power in countries all over the world, and as long as we the people, permit this to happen it won't stop.

I have recently been following a series of travel documentaries. What all these have in common is that the people who travel have met extraordinary kind and friendly people, whether that was in war-tested Africa or in central Asia or in South America. People you meet there are genuinely friendly and will smile at you. But many of those governments are bad, driven by corruption and greed.

Personally I wouldn't want to live in any of those places, but those who do have to deal with it - or they flee - to other countries to find hope and a better life. For who can live in a country when bombs are destroying the homes, the cities, the fields where crops should be growing?

Sorry, to bother you with my thoughts today, but for me the first day of the year has always been a day, not only to rejoyce for a new year and more hope, but also for reflection on how things are going and how they might be going in the coming months.

Back to our camp life, we are still enjoying our nice weather, the blue skies and friendly people-encounters.

There are lots of dogs in camp and they all seem to be friendly fellows. Meet and greet is what they do and then we humans talk to their owners and we find more friendly people. 

Naturally, we have sent New Years greetings out via Facebook, Whatsapp, Email and texting. Modern media are making it truly easy to stay in contact.

 And true to family tradition we watched the annual New Years Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Ochestra in Vienna. Couldn't see it life as that happened while we were still in dream-land, but the ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) always has it available after the event. 

New Years Eve was spent by watching an old German New Years Show from 1979. Oh my - the memories, the old and known song artists - the melodies we listened to when we were young. And - by-the-way - what transpires from US TV from Times Square is not even worth looking at. I have never seen anything so incredibly boring. 

Well, I guess this is it for today. Let's do it again: HAPPY NEW YEAR to you people!