Goodbye 2018, it was nice knowing you －さよなら2018、知れてよかった－

The month of January is named after the Latin word for door – ianua.  The ancient Romans thought of entering a new year as being like walking through a door into a new world.

The trouble with walking through a door into a new world, of course, is that many bad things from the old world run through the door behind you.  A year ago, I left the old world of 2017 convinced that I was going to leave my frequent coughs and colds behind me.  But they followed me into 2018.

So this time as I stepped through the door leading from 2018 to 2019 I was very careful to shut the door quickly so that a number of bad things would not follow.  If I have been successful, then you should see none of the following things this year:

1. Shouting, Shouting!, SHOUTING! To win an argument

Last year, I became more and more convinced that Britain was abandoning its traditions as a democracy.  A democratic country is ruled by the “demos”, or people.  Britain instead became a “shoutocracy”, or a country ruled by shouting.  America, being a world leader, got there a bit before us.

All shouting on news and politics shows will cease in 2019.

2. People eating crisps with chopsticks

This was a weird snack eating habit I noticed in 2018 in Japan.  Just use your fingers.  Or stop eating crisps.

3. People valuing their mobile phones more highly than their children

Last year in Britain, as in Japan, a mobile phone network crashed for one day, meaning that some people could not easily make calls or use the internet.  Some pizzas could not be delivered to customers.  Some people couldn’t “like” their friends’ pictures on Facebook.  For some people, it was as if society was collapsing.  One young woman interviewed on tv said, “I think this is the worst natural disaster in my lifetime.”

4. Theresa May

Could we just leave the British Prime Minister in 2018, please?  She has a hard job, I know, but somehow she always seems to find a way to make it even harder.

Thank you!

Vocabulary:

to abandon something – to leave something behind, and not return to it

to cease – to stop