NEW YEAR BUBBLES

Quick question. When you wish someone a 'Happy New Year' does it mean you wish them a full year of happiness, or are you just wishing them well for the first few days in January?

I always assumed it was the former. I want to be wished well for the entire twelvemonth, with happiness that fizzes and bubbles until late December. Surely that's what it means?

But there's a niggling thought I can't quite expunge - the thought that 'New Year' also means the post-twixtmas days before we take the tree down. In other words, this little season, pre-Epiphany. If that's what people mean when they say Happy New Year, it would make sense, thanks to the capital letters. But surely not! Surely it can't mean that can it?

We'll be taking our tree down tomorrow. I don't feel particularly sad about Christmas being over this year; more prosaic about the year ahead I suppose, a year of huge unpredictability, but one I think I can grab hold of. Listen, I don't know whether it will be exactly 'happy' - but I'd settle for joyful, and I believe that joy is a lot longer lasting than New Year bubbles.

If I've ever wished you a Happy New Year, I promise you, I have always intended it to mean the entire year ahead, and I think deep down, I've been prophesying more than just happiness.