HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 12-28-13

New Years Eve

Over the years New Years Eve has taken on a different perspective. It was formerly a night of unbridled revelry. Consuming too much alcohol seemed to be the thing to do and I was not one to disappoint. Looking back, we all did some mighty foolish things. The years have brought about a more sensible approach to the event. Now, I don’t even make it to watch the ball fall.

It seemed like making noise was a good way to see in the New Year. I am glad that the ways I made noise are now unlawful. When I was 15 or 16, I used to fire off my shotgun even though I lived in town. Nobody said anything about it. They were too busy making their own form of noise. Since Salisbury was a relatively small town, everybody just seemed to look the other way on New Years Eve. If you did that now in my old neighborhood, there would be a half-dozen police cars there in about two minutes. I guess we did it because nobody told us not to.

I remember one New Years Eve was the first year they initiated the plan to give anyone who wanted, or needed, a ride home. I had walked to a party close to where I lived and took a fifth bottle of vodka. There was only about an inch of vodka in the bottle but I filled it to three quarters full by adding water to it. I had the time of my life that night just watching everyone watch me drink from my bottle and acting progressively more stupid. People were very tolerant of a drunk back then and I got away with far more than I would have if people only knew the truth. At the end of the evening, they wouldn’t even let me walk home, fearing I would be found the next morning laying by the side of the road. So, they called a service that gave rides to people who were too drunk to drive (or walk). When I later found out that they had only given rides to six people, I was thoroughly embarrassed. Oh, well, like I said we did some mighty foolish things back then.

There are many venues today that provide for New Years merriment. I guess when people of today talk about kids not being able to entertain themselves, they are not taking into consideration that what we found entertaining back then would not be tolerated by society now. Just as well.