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Where in the world . . .

© Diane Goldberg under the original topic name

I'm considering leaving my lair on New Year's Eve. As an addicted traveler I'd like to leave it about a thousand miles behind but that seems unlikely so I'll have to content myself with minor holiday roaming --- I might, for example, go to the grocery store the day before the end of 1999.

It's not fear of Y2Kraziness or winter travel that keeps me in my nest --- it's inertia. Nasty yucky rainy weather and I haven't made plans.

I was roaming around the World Wide Web seeking celebrations to tell you all about and fell into a grump. Most municipalities from Bangor to Bangkok are touting town celebrations of the New Year. All of them bear an alarming resemblance - they will involve large crowds, noise, and some form of count down and depending on the area attitude alcohol or not. As New Year's Eve celebrations, they all look perfectly functional and if your inclined to go out in Indianapolis you'll have a celebration every bit as exciting as people in Paris will have. As an added plus for most non-French-speaking Hoosiers --- if you stay in Indianapolis you'll have a far greater likelihood of making yourself understood while ordering drinks.

Please note how cleverly I avoid making millennial references --- I'm too enervated this week to enter the when-does-the-millennium-really-start-wars. My vote in that debate is an unequivocal "Who cares?"

According to half-heard information I halfway heard over my car radio it seems that an enormous number of merrymakers are greeting 2000 in their very own home sweet home. Hotels are advertising New Year's packages with evangelical fervor even at this late date. A few specialty food shops are suggesting that you get tanked on ultra-expensive vino for this once in a lifetime New Year's Eve.

Sidenote: Did HG Wells let the rest of you in on a secret I missed? Has everyone else been indulging in time travel without telling me? I thought each New Year's Eve was a one-shot deal. Have the rest of you guys been back in 1968 without me?

Anyway ---- for all of you travelers staying at home who'd like to be virtual voyeurs while the rest of the world whoops it up --- check out http://www.earthcam.com/newyears/index_f... for a mouse-driven journey across the planet to celebrations in every time zone.

I know New Year's Eve is still over a week off, but I thought that maybe you'd like to plan early. Besides, the World Wide Web cams are live now --- if Chicken Little is right we might not be able to see anything on-line New Year's Eve.