Maybe next year?

Outside I can hear the fireworks going off. My wife and daughter are playing in the next room. In many ways I should be grateful for what 2006 has been like for my family. My brother has got engaged and is moving back to live not far from me. My daughter is growing well and is happy and a joy to be around. I have had a few small successes in my work and a big one appears to be about to finally materialise with the post-doc decision being due any day. Yet, I would be foolish not to recognise that this happy version of 2006 was very far from the case for most people. So, in these last few hours of the year, I allow myself the faint hope that 2007 will be a better year for most. I know, at least, that Romania and Bulgaria are counting down the hours to their entry into the EU. Congratulations to them. They certainly can expect mostly positive changes in the next while.