Annual Restart

It isn't necessarily the first day of January on which the year starts. Some kinds of years start up elsewhere; the Folio Society and the English Premier League both start to show signs of life in late April.

Both of these institutions are reminders that once upon a time Britannia did indeed rule the waves, of both air and water, and that interesting and powerful things can come in relatively small packages. You marvel both at the tenacity of Stoke and Hull and staying in the top division, as well as the intricate power of a work like Golding's The Lord of the Flies. There is cruelty and pleasure, entertainment and grim knowledge of the human condition; there is always something for anyone and everyone.

It's like that in other areas of life as well. However, the League evolves in cycles and tables, while the Folio Society depends first on society, and then on folios. Other areas of life can be alike in one or both or neither of these aspects.