As final drops were drained out of champagne bottles, cigarettes distinguished and needles cast to one side, thoughts turned to the New Year and resolutions that will make 2008 different.
New Year’s resolutions are somewhat of an optimistic tradition and how many of us can say we have seen them through to February, let alone still remember them come March. This woeful commitment was picked up in research conducted in the UK, which found that while 52 per cent were confident of success, only 12 per cent actually achieved their goals.
As ever, quitting smoking topped the list and while this is one of the harder ones, it may have just become easier for the “good people” of France. Despite the traditional coffee shop culture, fags of the flammable type are now a thing of the past in “friendly” Parisian bars, restaurants and watering holes.
While resolutions may be difficult to keep, it’s amazing what people end up doing that they didn’t even know about at the start of the year. The phenonmenal growth of social networking and in particular Facebook in 2007 was a testimaony to the domino link effect of peer pressure. As one of the few regular Internet users under the age of 30 with less than 100 friends, I have to sit back and laugh while looking at how the site may turn out in the future.
