It’s that time of the year when Planet Big Apple literally becomes an urban jungle, with the pavements - sorry, sidewalks - strewn with abandoned Christmas trees.
The holiday season is at an end and while the local aliens stretch it out at the other end, getting into the festive mood from Thanksgiving in November, they seem more than ready to draw a line under it all before the start of January.
So it’s time to move on and embrace the New Year, even if it pains me particularly this time around to enter 2012, the year Mini-Mum blasts off to her own little planet (exact galaxy still to be determined).
And in keeping with tradition and with the final batch of ski socks washed (I’m sure they re-populate if left to their own devices in suitcases), I’ve forced myself to sit down and draw up the following resolutions, designed to make me a better subalien.
1. Lose my nail virginity - in other words, have my first manicure. I realise this may not sound like much of a sacrifice to many of you but this is the girl who survived three years in Brazil without stepping foot in a beauty parlor ( I was also, according to my hairdresser, THE only girl in Rio with short hair). So this year, I am going to take the plunge. I appreciate that it will change me forever but am willing to make the sacrifice in the interests of total immersion in our current home.
2. Be more cultural – by this, I don’t mean eat more bio-yoghurt but rather force Super and family to make a monthly outing to see something that does not involve a screen. Thought we might start off easy this month with Kevin Spacey in Shakespeare’s Richard III. Or perhaps the off-Broadway return of “Carrie”, the musical….
3. Explore new corners of Planet New York. Over three years here and the "can't teach an old dog new tricks" syndrome has well and truly set in (as opposed to the "I could teach a new dog great tricks" campaign that is currently being waged by Male Mini-me). Believe it or not, a 30-minute subway ride which would take us to the other end of the island, opening up the cultural (there’s that word again) vistas of Chinatown, Greenwich Village and Washington Square now seems like a transatlantic voyage. In fact we are more likely to get in a taxi and head to the airport than head downtown. Shame on us, I know. Must do better.
4. Visit new corners of Planet America. Does it count if we do get in that taxi and head to the airport in order to see aliens in other cities? Or do we still have to go downtown? Only kidding.
5. Learn the names of all of the united states. Very helpful when trying to fufill Resolution No 4 and also, I expect, in trying to keep up with this year's main topic of alien conversation. Plus brush up on essential election vocab such as pork barrel spending, wingnuts and dimples.
6. Discover why no matter what combination of groceries or the actual number of items, my bill at our local supermarket always comes within $2.56 cents either side of $50. Always.
7. Work up enough courage to one day actually walk into Bergdorf Goodman on 5th Avenue. Even the glass doors look too expensive for me to touch them. Put it this way, gift cards are only sold in $50 denominations - then again, that's only one trip to the supermarket!
8. NOT take up Pilates or Yoga. This way, I know I will be able to keep to one resolution at least.
9. Cross the final divide and start buying socks (and other essential undergarments) in our new planetary home. You may laugh but as an eternal traveller, one clings to certain things from one's homeland - even when they start to lose their cling, so to speak. Time to start talking DKNY instead of M&S.
10. And apparently I’ve got to be kinder in this blog to old Super. So probably shouldn’t have included the “old” then.
So there they are - my 10 Self-Commandments for this year, in print so no excuses. I'll keep you posted.
