Last night: while talking with friends during a new year's phone call, I mentioned my boredom with the whole new year's eve thing. More than boredom: dislike. And it's true, it feels like a big non-event to me, an arbitrary designation used as a pretext for a whole lot of noisy, trashy, shitfaced partying. (I won't even go into New Year's Eve television -- zzzzzzzzzzzz....)
On the other hand: it's also an excuse to call old (and new) friends. I like that. It's also the reason for some pretty creative first night celebrations. I like that concept just fine. And it's used as an excuse to have dinner gatherings. I love that. Not to mention that how anyone else chooses to spend it is none of my biz.
(Note to self: making an effort to move past knee-jerk reactions? It's a good thing.)
I opted out of New Year's Eve hooha this year, stayed home, got quiet. While the rest of the local world was out in the street carrying on like banshees in heat. Laughter, shouting, glass breaking, firecrackers. Until way into the wee hours. I cobbled together a pretty decent night's sleep despite it all, stumbled out the next morning shortly after 11 into cold, nearly-deserted streets and a neighborhood in which nothing was open. Nothing. Even the ticket booth in the Metro was dark, a sign directing all passing humans to use nearby machines for passes. I walked sidewalks sprinkled with confetti and stray spangles/sequins, breathing in cold air, passing the occasional individual or couple out seeking somewhere warm to get food/caffeine, expressions dispirited. Also, a handful of individuals who had apparently been out all night, looking like they'd been run over by a tank but apparently not feeling it yet.
By the time I returned home, more people were about -- all wandering, talking quietly. All looking in vain for nowhere to go. This may be the first time I've seen an entire zone of a city center totally, completely shut down. Kind of impressive, in a strange, slightly desolate way. (There's a scene in the great Spanish film Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes -- U.S. remake: Vanilla Sky -- in which Eduardo Noriega runs down Gran Vía, the big east-west avenue that cuts through the center of Madrid. It's morning and the city center is empty -- no people, no vehicles, no movement apart from the one figure running down the street. Given how busy the center normally is 24 hours a day, some have pondered what they had to do to get that shot. I suspect they simply filmed it after the city had been out partying all night.)
[continued in next entry]
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Along la Calle de Barquillo, Madrid, the last weekend of 2007:
España, te quiero.
rws 8:11 AM [+]
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