New Years is one of those holidays that can be bitter sweet. On the one hand, you are
saying hello to a brand new year and you get to make all sorts of promises about how you’re going to improve yourself,
from traveling more to being less critical of others…or at least those were two of my resolutions last year. On the
other hand, you realize that yet another year has passed in your life and well, as the Stones once said, what a drag it
is getting old.
Well one way to help yourself avoid New Year’s doldrums is to get wickedly smashed in a place teeming with hardy
revelers. And where are revelers more hardy than in Scotland? Did you know the Scots actually have a version of New
Years that is all their own? It’s called Hogmanay and the biggest
Hogmanay celebration this year takes place in Edinburgh. Hogmanay itself is December 31st. But Edinburgh’s Hogmanay
winter festival runs from December 29 to January 1. From torchlight processions to fireworks to the quaffing of beer
pints and Oban whisky, New Years in Scotland
sounds like a pretty fine way to while away the hours until 2005 rolls through. I’ll be posting other New Years ideas
over the next few days, so keep your eyes open for them.