New Year thoughts from the balcony

By Patrick Kariuki

Alan Shore and Danny Crane are men, yet they have danced on the balcony together, smoked cigars on the balcony together, drank scotch on the balcony together and finally, in the very last episode of Boston Legal, the top-notch legal drama created by David E Kelley, they got married on the balcony.

There’s something about balconies. It’s the sense of superiority that comes with the bird’s eye view up there. It’s the clean air and the cold breeze that you have up there. The total solitude that one enjoys if alone. The chance to think.

The march of time only rarely offers the same opportunities, usually on the arrival of a milestone birthday: your 18th, your 30th, your 40th and your 55th, when retirement knocks on your door. And New Year’s day. Sure, last night I probably rang in 2011 the way I always do; with the countdown; the whoop; and the mad dash to the dance floor…or the booze station.

Sand in an hourglass

I was probably joined by like-minded people, briefly liberated from whatever shackles blight their lives. Many of them will be relatives and their friends gathered at Cucu’s.

Right now, New Year’s day, I’m probably having a balcony moment, but a metaphorical one because granny doesn’t have a balcony.

What I am thinking? I am nursing a serious headache with cold beer, so I am finding it hard to think or even dream. I am thinking about the hourglass. How much sand is left in mine? How many more New Years should I reasonably expect to celebrate? What will I do with them?

New Year Resolutions are dumb, so enough said about that.

Money is important and the more the better. Power and influence are wonderful things. Friends come and go, even the good ones. When it’s time, hang their memories on the wall of your mind, the way doctors display their degree certificates in their offices. Or erase them altogether, whatever works for you.

The electric guitar is a wonderful instrument, and as long as there is Rock, It will be a great year!