Waving Goodbye to 2020 – The Year of the Rat
If you’ve clicked onto this blog post, we’re wanting to congratulate you from the start due to the imagined reality that many saw ‘2020’ in the title and cleared off, unwilling to engage in the hard-hitting nostalgia of the previous year. We understand – who can blame them!? A flashback of Katie, our Assistant Office Manager revelling in how 2020 was to be a winner whilst peeling spuds in her student digs rears it’s head. It was to be the year of the rat, she stated – our good ol’ mate who’d won the Jade Emperors’ Race to determine the order of the zodiac. The rat symbolises fresh starts, wealth and fertility with an emphasis on success for small businesses – yikes! A revelation of how the year of the rat is expected to set the pace and trajectory for the next 12 years may not ring as music to your ears. Oh dear, here we are! Starting to sound like those awful bearers of bad news, suited and booted, live on your tele at 5pm. However, we would like to offer our condolences to the people and communities we hold dear, the past year has had a profound effect on everyone including our very own crew and punters.
We’d also like to offer some optimism – we’re pretty sure everyone can agree that we have observed further power to the people over 2020. With the uprising of activism surrounding the climate emergency, hierarchies of power transitioning from top-down relations and some serious critique regarding our politics and personal beliefs! In this sense, the year of the Rat has held true – sequencing motions of change within society. There’s also been no harm in embracing the simplicities of life; our crew members reminisce on revelling in the succulent vegetables harvested from allotments, an excellent time to have honed in on some gardening skills. Watch out for any rogue lettuces rolling about, stowed away to our fields! Speaking on, Rowden Paddocks Farm has seen its share of action regardless with our (‘socially distanced of course!’) live recordings and explosion of talent that is our BBC Introducing segment. Rest assured, our home away from home hasn’t been forgotten! Remnants for ‘normal times’ remain with recollections of early 2020 gigging – specifically the The Milk Carton Kids, an American duo, highly recommended by our crew! The simplest of simple count so there’s no discrediting the wonders and joy brought by food, maybe you scuttled off during ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ for a taste of fine dining, or maybe just a Maccies. We’re not judging! And neither should you – without a doubt perhaps the best aspect of 2020 was just getting through it – cheers!
Looking to 2021, let’s not blag that this year has treated us splendidly thus far; the majority of us are still very much grounded from all activities involving fun with friends and familiar faces. Regardless, our gentle, grounded friend, the Ox reigns over 2020, signifying a more slow, soft and passive movement through the year. We remain optimistic that with fresh vision, a little hard work and of course with prospect of getting down and dirty in the festival fields, we can turn 2021 into magic! Feng Sui, a Chinese art seeking to harmonise us with our environments perceives the animal to be auspicious – a granter of wishes if you will! And whilst our lovely little Noz team are busy having talks with Mr. Ox for the grand come-back of the festival season this summer, we’re also wanting to wish you lot a fantastic, show-stopping new year!
