Happy New Year.

We're so used to today being the start of the year, that it can come as somewhat of a surprise to find that it wasn't always so. After all, there's nothing special or magical about January 1st - it's just a date like any other date. If you were starting with a clean slate and deciding when the year should start, you might quite logically think that the year should start when the natural year starts - in other words, when stuff starts growing again. And indeed, for many centuries in this country, the year started on March 25th - around the official beginning of Spring. It wasn't until 1752 that January 1st was officially adopted as New Year's Day. At other times, and in other countries, the year has started on Christmas Day, March 1st, Good Friday and several other dates. Other religions and races also have their own new years, many based on lunar cycles - but whoever and wherever you are, I wish you all the best for the future.