New Year

So this is the New Year/And I don't feel any different ...

I've always loved that line from Death Cab for Cutie's Transatlanticism album. It's true, isn't it? Like birthdays (one of which I've just had as well), new years hold so much promise and potential for change. The countdown ends, the ball drops and you guzzle champagne waiting for the feeling that something significant has happened. Or you wake up in the morning and suddenly you're a year older. Looking in the mirror, you expect, like Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles, to see a difference in your face. Some visible evidence of a milestone reached.

More often than not there's nothing there.