January- 2017. Let's go for it. Another year.

Jaunary 2017. Let's go it for another year.

Good morning everybody. Well, how do you feel? Is there a spritely spring in your step? Are you looking forward to 2017 or are you secretly fearing the worst. Will there be another barrage of bad news, cynical comments about the end of the world being nigh or will it be another year of greyness, gloom and disaster? Surely not. And yet there are plenty of doom mongers and naysayers who believe that come the end of the year all will be wreckage, carnage, broken promises and yet more disenchantment.

But I have to tell you. Let's just go for it this year. Of course it's only January, the beginning of a New Year and it's time to wipe the slate clean. It's time to hope that the next President of the United States Donald Trump will get it completely right and surprise us all. It's time to believe that the nations of the world will finally wake up and smell the coffee. The world needs a collective meeting of minds, a sense of enduring harmony, a feeling that if it really tries it can build bridges and find common ground.

Now of course this is an idealistic pipedream because in the real world some people just aren't interested at all in just getting on with each other. Clearly it does seem at times that this peace agenda is just pie in the sky nonsense and maybe we should continue this narrative of killing, murder, destruction and general brutality. Sadly this is beginning to sound like a cracked record unless somebody out there can just stand their ground and just say. Enough is Enough!

So January hey. It's long, slow, laborious and seemingly endless. January is a time for a new perspective on life, another opportunity to approach life from entirely different angles. January is just very lazy, lackadaisical and just can't be bothered to do anything strenuous. January is very laid back, relaxed and easy like Sunday morning. January is a wide, yawning gap stretching in front of us, It always feels like January just goes on for ever and ever. It is the longest month of the year and it just seems to lumber and stagger towards its conclusion with an aching reluctance. Will you please hurry up January or maybe not.

To those people who hate those dark wintry nights January may seem very dull, plodding and pedestrian. But I think we should celebrate the warmth indoors when the lights come on at roughly 5pm in the afternoon and the telly flickers like the proverbial candle. But January loves that feeling of security, of safety. of knowing that whatever may be going on outside most of us feel protected from a world that sometimes seems obscenely frightening, horribly dangerous and constantly threatening.

January represents the beginning of that new chapter of our life, of formulating plans for spring and summer, of being sloppy, slovenly and lethargic at times but still engaged at the same time. January is the perfect time to sit back very objectively and decide that maybe the world isn't such a bad place after all and maybe we'll learn to iron out all those negatives, deficiencies and shortcomings that the world may be weighed down by.

January is full of weariness, lethargy and perhaps an overwhelming sense of anti climax. Look at those drooping, forlorn Christmas decorations, the Christmas tree tilting over to one side as if ever so slightly drunk and then the tinsel by now dropping sadly onto the backs of chairs and sofas, perhaps crying and weeping at the end of all those frivolous festivities. If January could talk perhaps it would ask if it could do Christmas next month. But then the harsh reality dawns and January stares at the last bottle of port and parts company with on old friend for another year. Should Auld Acquaintance be forgot for the sake of Auld Lang Syne.

I can sense an air of quiet resignation in January. Oh well Christmas, rather like a very dear acquaintance, can't wait to meet up again at the end of the year. January needs a very strong cup of coffee, something to re-vitalise it before it just falls into a deep depresssion and self pity. It's time to seize the day. And yet Jaunary is forgivably tired and weary. But to all intents and purposes, January is suffering from a dour despondency because nothing will ever compare to the sheer elation of December, Christmas and happy cracker pulling. Still it's time to shake ourselves from  temporary slovenliness and complacency. Time to surge forward into the future and stop dwelling on the past.

Tomorrow we'll all get back to some semblance of normality and January will jump out of bed in the morning, throwing water onto its face in the bathroom, brushing its teeth and just looking good. Of course the world has  its problems and complications but January must be thinking about the months ahead quite philosophically and realistically. What's the worst that can happen?

January looks over its shoulder and believes that 2016 was quite the most appalling year it can remember. It was a year that slowly deteriorated into a complete mess. With every passing month, the disagreement and discord seemed to become more more frequent and more disturbing. Slowly but surely Britain crumbled away like a dusty old pillar, dissolving helplessly into the darkest hole of dejection. Can anybody tell me what all the fuss was about?

 And yet Britain's withdrawal from Europe now seems like ancient history and perhaps we should concentrate on some other pressing domestic issue. Please spare me the endless discussion and ranting from those annoyingly soundbite poliiticians. It really is time to let it go and refrain from this raging rhetoric. this futile finger pointing, those slanderous accusations, the hot and bothered brigade, the furious, irate and incensed party. It just seems to go on and on without pausing for breath. Let's change the subject.

January has to be feeling a mellowness and gentle acceptance about life. The streets and roads are still deserted, Santa Claus is just an old jolly seasonal joke and the neighbours are still very friendly and approachable. So nothing has changed dramatically. The postman still pushes dutiful letters   through your letter boxes and the dustman still looks very chipper.. All is well on earth. The traffic is increasing in its intensity and the world is beginning to right itself. The pavements are wet and sodden and it may yet snow. Perhaps the children of the world will run out into the streets enthusiastically and chuck snow balls at each other and build very impressive snowmen.

January does, after all, have its redeeming features. From a personal view I'm rather hoping that my team West Ham United emerge in May unscathed, untainted and completely intact. Maybe we'll still be a functioning and successful Premier League team next season or maybe horror of horrors the axe will fall and the Hammers will be condemned to Championship oblivion. Mind you, my team have been there before so maybe I should close my eyes, take a deep breath and hope that West Ham finish 15th, 16th or even 17th. This, I believe,is a sensible objective but if not then maybe I'll support Leyton Orient, Dagenham and Redbridge, Rochdale or Grimsby Town. Maybe I'll switch sports and follow lacrosse, real tennis, fishing or hockey.

Still it doesn't really matter to me to quote Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. I'm inclined to think that 2017 will have the right chemistry, the right chemical formula and we'll look back very reflectively on 2016 with a regretful shrug. Personally I found a renewed burst of energy and started running again. There are times when I wish I hadn't bothered. The years are beginning to pass and I need to keep my body moving. Of course I feel slightly the worse for wear and age is beginning to poke me in the ribs quite painfully at times. There is still a sense though that age is flying past me inexorably and uncompromisingly.

And now it is that I settle down on this second day of 2017. Will the Hammers beat Jose Mourinho's all conquering Manchester United this evening. To be honest the emotions are mixed. How can I allow an allegiance to my football team affect me quite as deeply as it does. Of course it isn't the end of the world and there are matters of much greater importance and meaning afoot.

I still think we should raise a glass to our noble and upstanding Olympians Nicola Adams, a boxing legend in her right, Sir Bradley Wiggins, a cycling master, the aforementioned Sir Andy Murray, Britain's most outright, clearly talented, vastly skilful tennis player and those who participate in sport for the sheer fun of it and no adulation whatsoever. 2017 is going to be our year, our time, our turn in the spotlight, our chance to shine, our moment to carve out our identity, to assert ourselves and make sure that everybody sings from the same hymn sheet. Yes 2017 I have every faith in you. Let the year begin.