Latest posts by Martin Moodie (see all)
- On location: Where clouds meet the land in Aseer Province - January 22, 2025
- On location: A tale of transformation at King Abdulaziz International - January 20, 2025
- On location: Discovering Saudi Arabia’s cultural wonders and aviation opportunities - January 19, 2025
När nyårsklockan slår
[When the New Year’s bell rings]
Ja jag vill dela allt med dig
[Yes, I want to share everything with you]
Mina allra bästa år
[My very best years]
Minns det som igår min vän
[Remember it like yesterday my friend]
– Minns det som igår by Anna Ternheim
And so we prepare to tread, albeit slightly warily, into a New Year.
As I write my final Blog of an always eventful and occasionally tumultuous 2024 from my home base in Hong Kong, the second quarter of the 21st century is about to get under way.
New Year’s Eve always brings nostalgia. Nostalgia that tugs wistfully at the heartstrings, evoking fondness, warmth and sadness in roughly equal measure. Fondness for family and friends near and far; warmth at the memories of places seen and good times had; sadness for those lost along the way.
In 12 hours or so I will join thousands upon thousands of Hong Kong residents and visitors in watching the fireworks on Victoria Harbour and serenading the night and anyone unfortunate enough to be in close proximity with the age-old words of the great Scottish poet Robbie Burns put to song. Yup, you know the ones:
Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an nivir brocht ti mynd?
Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an ald lang syn
Fir ald lang syn, ma jo,
fir ald lang syn,
wil tak a cup o kyndnes yet,
fir ald lang syn.
Or at least – according to Wikipedia – that’s how they sound when sung by a Scotsman (or perhaps a Kiwi who has drunk too much Scotch). Most of us will settle for the more familiar first verse and chorus:
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And at that precise moment as one year passes into another, one thinks of course about all those ‘auld acquaintances’ no longer with us, parents, siblings, friends, colleagues. I certainly shall. Writing one obituary is one too many; this year I have penned several, including those dedicated to people I have been very close to along the way – Colm McLoughlin, Maurice Burke, Garry Stock, Andreas Fehr. All lost too soon.
The painful privilege of writing such journalistic epitaphs to those you admired, even loved, is one I don’t take lightly and yet I always feel I have fallen short in my task. How can you sum up the life and achievements of a man or woman in a matter of paragraphs? Words, my lifeblood, no matter how well-crafted or well-intentioned, rendered inadequate.
But New Year’s Eve is not just about nostalgia, it’s also about looking forward. Of that frisson of excitement and anticipation for what might lie ahead. New places and experiences. And hopefully many good times.
In my case, 2025 will become the fourth quarter century of which I have spent at least part on this planet and – unless I do a Jimmy Carter (Rest in Peace) – probably my last. Like stanzas in poetry, such segments lend structure to one’s life. New Year’s Eve simultaneously reminds us how fast those years pass by and how urgently we must embrace the here and now.
For me the New Year will be one of necessary and probably overdue transition. The company I created almost 23 years ago is now in new, safe and good long-term hands. My journalistic ideals and ambitions, however, are heightened rather than dimmed. There is too much noise out there, too much of the banal and repetitive and not enough substance or voice. I intend to concentrate on both the last-named in this next stanza.
Simultaneously, life priorities need to be reassessed. No more excuses for missing out on someone’s important occasion or compromising on my own. A bucket list to be curated and the ticking off to begin.
2025 will bring challenging times in business for sure but those are hardly unknown for the travel retail community. How one responds is always more interesting than the dilemma one faces.
And so I’ll close my final Blog for 2024 not with the famous chorus of Auld Lang Syne but the more obscure fifth and final verse as my seasonal thanks to all those who have helped me along my way. So when the New Year’s bell rings, remember it like yesterday my friends. ✈
And there’s a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.
[And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give me a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.]