Another New Year rolls on in, and as it does, so does me and my new found jiggly bits.
This year has been no exception as I have succumbed to the allure of cheese and wine (no longer does a full wheel of Camembert defeat me), and my God is it starting to show. I have stuffed my face silly, with all that is near, and still I am contemplating more BBQ crisps. Will I ever learn?
So this New Year’s Eve called for a little simplicity. A little something casual, a little something less grandeur. No ballrooms and glitz this year folks. Oh no, this year, I was Christmas temp. This meant, I had to work. I only had to work for four hours New Year’s Eve, but it really set the tone for this New Year’s Eve festivities, and for that I am eternally grateful to Christmas temp. I think this year was the best New Year’s Eve I’ve had in a long time. Let’s just say, it’s miles and miles ahead of last year in the success ratings. The only thing missing is edamame. You know it was a bad New Year’s when soy beans were the highlight of the night.
This year we decided to be stealthy. We were lucky enough to have the house to ourselves, and so therefore, we had no one to drag us to the pub to be ‘sociable’ aka drowning our past selves in how shit their decision making was. This year was different. When it reached 11:45pm-ish we donned our hats and scarfs and headed out onto our University campus. You might think this a little weird, but our campus sits right on top of a hill, so we can see all out over the city. We had to hurry a tad, and by a tad I mean a lot, in order to make it to the chosen bench in time, but we made it. Success!
This bench is pure perfection. If I had to date a bench, this would be my soulmate. It’s positioned with university accommodation to its left, and construction work to its right. Not exactly romantic, but it created a perfect little alcove so it wasn’t too windy or cold. It was here, on a bench in the middle of an abandoned campus looking over the town that Brad and I welcomed in the New Year.
And what a welcome it was.
So SO many fireworks. I wasn’t fast enough with my camera, and gave up in the end, but I managed to capture a few images. The sky was literally speckled with light as the clocks struck midnight. We took sneaky enjoyment in watching those scallywags who were out-of-sync and lit their fireworks too early. Hilarity at its finest.
We sat up on that spot for must have been twenty minutes as we watched the free private show put on just for us. It was simple, yet exciting, shivering a little, and knowing that no one knew we were watching. Strangely exhilarating. Yet, it couldn’t last, and as the fireworks started to die down, and our fingers started to lose feeling, we thought it best to head home.
We ended the night snuggled up in our living room, T.V on and candles lit. It was the perfect end to the perfect evening. With cheese included of course.
And with that, 2015 ended and we welcomed in 2016. I’d like to say we awoke bright and early with our New Year’s resolutions fresh in our minds….but that would be a lie, and lies are bad folks.
It must have been gone ten when we finally awoke, but that didn’t matter as we snuggled further into our duvet. This wouldn’t last long though, as we planned to start our own tradition as a newly engaged couple: A New Year’s Day walk. No tempting warm, cuddly duvet was going to stop us from making some goddamn traditions.
We decided that The Blean nature reserve would be the perfect place to go. We had been planning a trip here for a while, and what better time than New Year’s Day eh? It was crisp, cold and frosty. Sunny and bright. It was like someone had saved this weather for the special day. We avoided the puddles from the day before and trudged our way through mud. It was like Indiana Jones merging with Autumn Watch.
The reserve was NOT a disappointment to say the least. My god it was HUGE. So vast in fact that there were several different coloured trails to choose from, ranging in length from 45 minutes to a good half a day’s trek. This was not the dainty woodland walk I had expected. With cars parked all around, it was popular too. I was expecting not to see another human in sight, but in fact our morning was filled with “Hellos” and “Happy New Year’s”. What is it with people? Suddenly we’re all best friends when we walk in the woods together? I didn’t let my manners fail me though. With mumbled replies to these strangers, we continued on with our walk, watching the joggers with trepidation and the olive-drab family marching by. Such a variety of people in one place, it’s strange how an area of woodland can bring everyone together.
This has to be one of my favourite New Year’s activities. Trudging our way through the undergrowth, the wind brisk and clean in our faces, nothing feels better than this. Other than my bed of course.
You just never know what you’ll find buried deep within such a woodland habitat. Constantly on the look-out for rare birds or insects, sometimes you find something just as rare, but man-made. This tee-pee, we reckon, must have been built by the local scout group or something because there was quite a few of them around. It definitely made us want to build one.
The mud was never-ending, with a few near misses here and there, neither of us slipped over fortunately. Yet, with puppies scurrying around, mud was sprayed all around, and we had to hide our cameras often. The fear of a mud-splattered lens haunts me to this day.
I have to say, even though the wind kept my face at the decidedly icy temperature, the rest of me was kept nice and warm by my coat. A vaguely recent purchase from Zara, this coat has been a life saver in the recent months.
Apart from my coat, another thing I discovered I loved on this walk was looking up. People always forget to do it, always looking ahead or sadly, on their phones. If they were just to look up, a whole new woodland would be revealed to them.
Silhouettes of life abandoned above us. Veins reaching out to each other, never quite touching.
It’s rather pretty if you think about it. These images I captured have to be some of my favourite. I just love the contrast between the bright sunlight and the darkness of the branches. It’s almost like a still from a stop-motion film. That’s how I see it anyway.
This isn’t to say all the best shots are up. Brad commandeered my camera and took this image.
Milkier in appearance with a sepia tone, it portrays the woodland as it was, rather than the crisp lines of the previous images. Drowning in muddy swamp land sums it up pretty well. A FUN muddy swap land.
New Year’s are usually quite mundane experiences for me. From being in education to spending a year abroad, the next year has always been planned out and regimented, with no doubts of what will come. Either more school or returning to university. This year however, is different. I could be doing a Masters, I could have to find a job. I know what I want to do with my life, but the baby-steps it takes to get there are still unclear to me. These next few months, I can feel, are going to be turbulent, full of intense decision making and stress.
Though, that doesn’t stop me from being excited. I have so many plans on how to change my life this year. I know loads of people say that, but I need to get my ass in gear this year. 2016 is going to be the year I become the ‘me’ I want to be. I’m reading back on this now and cringing, but hey, it’s true.
Not only that though, but now I can look back on my New Year’s Day with nostalgic feeling, knowing that this was the best start to the New Year I could have possibly had. My favourite person, a new favourite place, and later on, more cheese. Life doesn’t get better than that!
I seriously recommend visiting the Blean nature reserve if you are in the England/Kent area, here’s a link to its page: http://www.theblean.co.uk/ I definitely recommend you bring your wellies!
I hope you all had an amazing New Year and wish each and every one of you an amazing 2016!
N.E
My Paper Lungs 