New Year... with an empty nest!

Well, as another New Year rolls around, it'll be just Mike and I as all our kids - who are now adults - have lives and will be out celebrating.

Us? We'll most likely be asleep as the bells chime in the New Year with the phone a few inches from my ear in case...

No matter how old they get, I always worry when they're out, especially when I know a good deal of alcohol is going to be involved.

I don't like New Year; I always find it very depressing... Christmas is over and as of January it's all bills and cold weather. I hate it. And Auld Lang thingy - can't recall the proper title - makes me cry every time I hear it, so all in all, I avoid New Year celebrations like the plague.

This year's start to the new year will be rather different though as Mike and I are heading to Spain for 3 months as of February 1st so I'm hoping we'll avoid the worst of the cold weather anyway... but I'm getting the willies about the whole thing now.

Kev - my youngest, who's 18 - will be here and his friend Rob is moving in for the duration too, and I'm worried on many, many levels; will they trash the house? Will they annoy the neighbours with loud music? Will they have debauched parties? Will they ever clean the bath or will I get home to find my pristine white bath a shade of grey?

Will they eat? What if they get ill? Will they phone their mates on their mobiles and run up a huge phone bill? The worries go on and on but I won't bore you with them all...

So the start of 2009 is going to be a weird one and I'd rather just ignore it and let it happen in my sleep! Still, I hope everyone has a good new year and especially those who, like me, will be feeling the sting of ENS - empty nest syndrome - as this year dissolves into the next. My advice? Have a good kip!